Union of Roses
by oniforever
Summary: After Harry's thirteenth birthday, he and his relatives go to an art gallery that was showcasing the artworks of Guertena. Unfortunately for Harry, his luck will follow him anywhere, even in an art gallery. Now Harry is trapped in an insane gallery with a strange yet easy-to-like purple haired teen and a bubbly blonde girl, will he get out of this one? -ADOPTED FROM LINDSEY6500-
1. Chapter 1 - Entering the Gallery

_**Chapter 1 – Entering the Gallery**_

**AN:**

**Oni: Hello my darling readers, I have adopted this story from the wonderful **_**Lindsey6500 **_**who can sadly not continue the story, so I am picking it up and attempting to see it through the end. To all those who are reading my Soul Eater fic Redemption, do not worry, I will still be updating it and hopefully at more frequent intervals!**

**Garry: Hopefully…**

**Oni: ANYWAYS, Ib and Harry Potter belong to their respective creators and most of this chapter and story up to chapter 10 is still credited to Lindsey6500, I will just be adding some minor details here and there and then continue full speed ahead with this thing!**

* * *

Harry was ecstatic.

He and his relatives were going to an art gallery.

Normally a young teen wouldn't be so excited to go to an art gallery, but Harry wasn't like many teens his age.

After all, not many teens are orphans who lost their parents to a Dark Lord who tried to kill that child but somehow failed resulting in that child becoming famous. Not many teens were locked in a cupboard, starved, forced to work as a slave for that child's relatives, and physically and verbally abused because that child is a wizard.

No, Harry definitely wasn't like many children his age.

Harry walked behind his oversized relatives-Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley- fingering a lace handkerchief that had his name sewed into the corner with golden stitching, Harry had gotten this handkerchief from an anonymous sender who told him that the handkerchief he was given was made by his parents before their untimely death.

Harry walked into the art gallery that was made up of the paintings and sculptures that an artist named Weiss Guertena had painted. Harry's relatives walked up to the front desk to pick up pamphlets.

"Aunt Petunia, may I go further into the gallery?" Harry asked politely hoping he could go off on his own to look at the paintings.

Petunia glanced at her nephew, loathing in her eyes.

"Go boy, just be back here at 4 o'clock or we'll leave you here in America."

Harry knew she was only saying things generally kind to him because they were in public, if they had not been in a public place she would have slapped him and told him that freaks like him were not allowed to ask questions.

"I will," Harry told her trying to be as polite as possible.

"Go then."

Harry nodded nonchalantly before walking into the next area.

Harry took notice to the gathered people all staring at what looked to be some sort of lake or ocean that had a gigantic fish-like monster in its depths. This huge floor painting was titled "Abyss of the Deep", the main painting in the gallery.

Harry walked around the bottom floor gazing at each painting and studying the ones he took the most interest in, which weren't a lot of paintings just the "Abyss of the Deep" and a sculpture of a red rose titled "Embodiment of Spirit".

Seeing no more interesting artwork, Harry walked out of the main area and walked into the next section of the gallery; the upstairs area.

Immediately upon getting atop the next floor, Harry could already tell that he would find more interesting paintings.

Harry glanced at the far wall, observing the unique paintings that others had found captivating for one reason or another. One strange purple haired teen, Harry took notice of, was gazing intently at a painting.

Harry turned down to his right to see a series of what looked to be three headless mannequin ladies, all identical except for their dresses, which were all colored differently in the colors red, blue, and yellow. Harry walked down the hall to look at the title. "Death of the Individual" it was titled.

"In my opinion, what Guertena is saying here is that 'the individual' lies in one's expression. Which is why these figures don't have heads, see?"

Harry blinked upon hearing a sudden statement from a man who had been studying the mannequins, but after taking time to think about what the man had said, Harry couldn't help but find the man's theory quite logical.

"I guess so," Harry responded.

The man exclaimed with surprise, "Oho, I'm glad you understand! Yes, I'm sure that's it." The man turned back to the mannequin ladies.

Harry continued his way down glancing at the random sculptures and painting, yet strangely Harry could not shake the feeling of fear he received when he looked at the mannequin ladies and the painting of a women in a red dress with brown hair and red eyes titled "The Lady in Red". Harry found that the painting seemed to glare at him.

Harry continued his trip on the upstairs area for what seemed like hours until he came across a large painting that spanned across an entire wall. The painting was of a black background with other objects painted within, some of which seemed to be of a few other art pieces that were in the gallery as well as a red rose in the corner. The title of the painting was "Fabricated World".

Harry stared at the painting and felt a strange feeling within him, compelling him to reach out to the painting, to touch the painting. Slowly, Harry reached out with his hand to the strange painting.

Just as Harry's outstretched hand made contact with the painting, the lights flickered.

Harry looked around in surprise before realizing something.

"My relatives are going to blame me." Harry stated to himself, after all, if something strange happens Harry is always the one blamed, even if it was something or someone else who caused it.

"I better go find them."

Harry just turned the corner when he noticed something.

"Why is it so quiet?"

The sound of classical music that had been playing before in the background was gone as was the sound of conversations and the sound of shoes scraping against the floor. Everything was quiet.

Curiosity filled Harry as he hurried to the reception desk.

'Everyone's probably down there,' he thought, going down the steps and into the lobby.

No one was there.

The lights began to flicker around him before shutting off completely.

Harry, terrified, ran to the front doors of the gallery and reached out to the doorknob. Harry's hand clenched the doorknob and turned.

The doors were locked.

Backing up, Harry looked around and spotted a window. Immediately, he ran to it and glanced outside. Seeing only darkness, he backed away from the window just as a blood red liquid poured down the glass.

Footsteps rang around from what seemed like everywhere.

Harry truly realized his situation at that moment. He was trapped in the gallery by himself.

Harry ran up the stairs and turned to the window across from him to see a shadow of a person walk past the window from outside. Harry crossed the short distance and glanced out only to see the same darkness as before.

Sighing, he turned away from the window and began walking down the hallway.

**BANG BANG****  
**  
Harry jumped at the sudden noise and turned to its source, the window.

Harry walked over and looked at the glass to see small cracks against it. That was when Harry realized a startling fact.

He was on the second floor. It would have been impossible for someone to have walked past the window.

Harry ran from the window and down the hall not even caring about all the noise he was making.

As he ran Harry passed a picture with a piece of fruit drawn within its canvas. The fruit... fell from the painting and splattered against the floor. Harry heart sped up seeing this, after all he was in an art gallery made up of muggle paintings, nothing here was a moving picture from the magical world and even if it was, how could a piece of fruit fall out of its own canvas? Was it even possible in the magical world?

Harry shook himself out of his thoughts and turned down the corner and past a painting of a cat.

"MEOW!"

'Did...that cat just meow at me?' Harry thought as he quickly passed the painting.

Harry came to the hall that held the large "Fabricated World" painting. However, something had changed about it. Some blue paint had begun dripping out from underneath it. As Harry observed it, he heard a strange dripping sound come from behind him. Harry turned to the around to find a series of letters spelled across the floor in blue paint.

**COME HARRY**

Harry was just able to read them out when he heard a strange sound from behind him, turning around quickly he saw a message written in blue paint.

**come down below harry ill show you someplace secret**

Harry blinked at the sudden message and he felt literally terrified but at the same time relieved. After all, it could be a trap but he had no place to go or anything to do at that moment, plus, if it was someone else from the gallery then at least he would have company, right?

Harry continued down the hallway and was just about to turn the next corner when he heard a sudden sound, a cough.

'Is someone else here?'

Harry turned to face the spot where he had heard the cough only to see a painting; "The Coughing Man".

"W-what's going on?" Harry stuttered as he came to the staircase.

Harry walked on and came to the room that held the giant floor painting titled "Abyss of the Deep". At first the painting of the giant fish seemed to be the same as it was before, however, Harry noticed a set of blue painted footsteps that came to what used to be a part of rope that was now missing, opening the painting up.

Harry stepped over to the painting and glanced down to see the water of the painting rippling like real water.

"Well I got nothing else to do so I might as well get this over with."

Harry jumped into the painting.


	2. Chapter 2 - The White Rose

_**Chapter 2 – The White Rose**_

**AN: **

**Oni: I do not own Ib nor do I own Harry Potter. Most of the story still comes from the amazing mind of Lindsey6500 until I was given the story after chapter 10. **

* * *

Harry fell through the water (or at least what seemed like water) for what felt like minutes before his feet touched solid ground. Looking around, he discovered that he was standing on a staircase, clothes and body completely dry. Harry walked down the long staircase until he reached the bottom and glanced around at his surroundings.

Everywhere around him was blue; blue ceiling, floor, and walls. There were two paths he could take, left or right, and on both sides of the staircase were paintings of the exact same landscape with the only difference being the coloring. The right picture had blue water it seemed, while the left one had red lava. Harry decided to go to the right-hand side first.

The walls had light blue wording across it, repeating the same word, COME, over and over again all the way down the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a small table with a vase on top of it. The table was in front of a door and the vase held a single flower; a delicate white rose. Harry walked up to the vase and felt like he should take the rose. He felt that the rose was important. Just as his fingers wrapped around the rose, a strange sensation filled him, a familiar feeling of warmth that he only ever felt when he had his wand or was with Hedwig.

Harry stared at the beautiful rose and subconsciously began to count the number of petals: there were six of them. Harry put the delicate rose safely into the large pocket of Dudley's old jeans. Harry turned to the table and reached out, pushing it away from the door. The table slid smoothly across the stone, opening the doorway for Harry.

Pushing the unlocked door open, Harry looked inside. A small room with a single painting, a blue key, and a note of some kind was what greeted him. Harry entered the room and stared at the strange painting. It was a painting of a woman with teal colored hair that was seemingly hanging out of the picture frame. Her eyes were contentedly shut. Harry stepped forward and went up to read the notice. "When the rose wilts, so too will you rot away." Questions whirled around his head: What did this mean? If the rose wilts than would he really rot away as well? Harry shook his head in confusion. To fix his troubled mind, Harry took the large blue key into his hand. Lifting his head up, Harry was just about to leave the room, only to come face to face with the painting that now showed a teal haired woman with a crazed expression on her face, eyes opened wide.

Harry, not wanting to stay in that room with the painting woman any longer, turned and ran from the room, slamming the door shut behind him. The hallway now no longer had the light blue letters, instead the walls were written upon with crimson red paint, the word 'THIEF' written over and over all across the walls. Harry turned around and noticed another note on one of the walls. Walking up cautiously, Harry read the note.

"You and the rose are? Know the weight of your own life."

Harry took out the white rose and looked down at it.

Harry didn't know what one of the words on the note meant, but he had a good idea of what it was. If what the notes said were true, and his assumption was right, than the rose and him were connected in some way. Honestly, Harry didn't want to test his theory.

Harry turned around and, ignoring the wording across the walls, walked down the hallway. Halfway down, more red wording appeared on the floor right in front of him, THIEF it screamed at him.

Running, Harry took off down the next hallway indicated by the painting of a landscape with what seemed like red lava flowing around a gathering of rocks. Harry came to the end of the hall that only had three objects; a painting of a fish titled "The ? Fish", a light blue door, and a table. Seeing nothing useful to do with the table, Harry took the key into his hand and inserted it into the lock. 'Click'. Harry took a deep breath, reached out with his right hand, and turned the doorknob.

* * *

The next room had a green layout, like a forest. There were several paintings on the wall, each painting showing of a different type of insect. There was a ladybug, a bee, a butterfly, and a spider. Harry, due to his innate seeker skills of spotting small things, easily noticed a tiny speck on the floor moving. The speck turned out to be a tiny black ant. All of a sudden, the ant turned its tiny head to him and began to speak.

"i'm an ant," it declared. "i love paintings, my painting is especially cool. i'd like to see it again, but it's kind of far away..."

Harry immediately made it his mission to help the poor ant, even if the entire situation was a bit odd and crazy. Harry sometimes had to curse his people-saving-thing as Hermione called it.

Harry walked over to a pillar and read the notice posted on its front: Beware the Edges. Harry didn't really understand what it meant but looking behind the pillar, there was a long, narrow hallway. Harry proceeded to go down it.

Suddenly, a black arm shot out of the right side of the wall and hit him in his side. Harry let out a scream and jumped away from the hand. On the ground where he got hit laid a single pure white rose petal.

Harry took out his rose and looked down at it. There was only five petals were left. On his body was a large bruise blooming against his pale skin as well as multiple cuts where the hand had hit and scratched him. He now somewhat understood the rose's significance. It seemed that when he was hurt, a rose petal would fall. Harry wondered if his body would get hurt if the rose was damaged, he wasn't going to try it however.

This time, Harry heeded the instructions on the notice and walked down the center of the hallway, just out of the reach of the black arm. All the way down, more hands shot out of the walls. Fortunately, the hands were unable to touch him.

Harry came to the end of the hall and found himself standing in a narrow corridor, a painting of an ant on the wall. Harry easily removed the painting from the wall and cautiously made his way down the hall with the reaching arms, back to his ant friend.

When he reached the ant, he held out the painting to it. The little ant seemed entranced with the painting.

"oh. that's my painting. it's just as cool as I remember it," the ant said, staring at it intensely.

Guessing the ant didn't want it back, he kept the painting and continued on.

The next four paintings appeared to be the life cycle of a caterpillar. The first painting was of an egg titled "Prologue". The painting next to it was a caterpillar in a larva state, this painting called: "Chapter 1", following it was the chrysalis: "Chapter 2". The final painting, "Last Chapter", was a painting of a beautiful butterfly. Harry stared at the painting and wondered: "Will I ever get out of here to live to my last chapter?"

Honestly, even if he was able to get out of the gallery, he doubted that he would last long even in the outside world. Harry thought that he would most likely die either being killed by his relatives or by Voldemort. Harry hoped though that he would live long enough to have at least a few things to be proud of.

Walking along he came to a door that was thankfully unlocked.

In the room there was a fissure across the floor, too big for him to jump over because of the low ceiling. A sudden idea popped into his head. Harry laid down the painting over the fissure, creating a type of bridge for him. Hoping that the ant painting was sturdy enough to support his weight, he gingerly walked across, the painting tearing and cracking a little under the weight. Harry, with a little stroke of luck, made it to the other side of the fissure. Looking back to see if he would be able to cross back, he realized that not only was the painting cracked, but the ant in the painting looked squashed and bloody as if someone had stepped on it. Suppressing a shudder, he turned around and continued to the door on his side of the fissure.

Opening the door and stepping into the next room, he saw another yet another painting. "Epilogue" pictured a butterfly being eaten by a spider.

"What a sad ending..." Harry murmured softly to himself. Turning over to the right, Harry saw one of Guertena's sculptures, a headless mannequin wearing a red dress. In front of it was a green key lying on the floor. Walking over, he picked the key up.

Without warning, the statue suddenly came to life. As it approached him, he backed up away from it. Letting out a loud roar, it began to chase him. So many things flashed before his eyes, so many questions raced through his mind: What was happening? Why was it chasing him? How could it even see him without any eyes?

"Nonononono," Harry muttered hurriedly under his breath as he ran from the strange mannequin and over the painting. Just as he stepped off the painting, the rest of the canvas broke and ripped, the mannequin trapped on the other side.

As he went into the next room, Harry heard the sound of glass breaking and shattering. He continued running until he was far enough away.

"what happened to my painting?" A small voice asked.

Harry, unable to tell the poor ant what happened, ignored the question and ran past the poor ant. He ran past all the black arms reaching out at him and only stopped running when he came to a door. He stopped in front of the door to catch his breath, panting heavily. When his racing heart finally slowed down to a normal pace, he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Harry came to a fork in the path, gigantic eyes and ears that resembled those of a cat greeting him. In the far wall, there was a fish-shaped indentation. After studying the strange room, he decided to go to the right side first.

He came to a room that looked like a storage closet. Inside were multiple boxes, mannequins, and clay heads. Unnerved by the room, Harry moved past all the mannequins and clay heads and looked at a painting that held a red rose. Harry wondered why the roses seemed to be somewhat of a theme in the weird and whimsical world he was now trapped in.

Harry's thoughts of the room he was in being a storage closet were quickly confirmed when he read a letter on the floor that read "Materials Storehouse". All of a sudden, one of the clay busts began to shake violently. It then came to life and started after him. Frozen in fear, Harry couldn't move. The bust was only three feet away when it slipped on the letter that was lying on the floor; the bust began to fall. Harry came back to his senses and quickly jumped out of the way. The clay head shattered against the ground, revealing a wooden fish tail from its shattered head. Grabbing the tail, he was about to leave when a dripping sound came from behind him. Turning around he saw a yellow substance start to drip from the ceiling.

Harry just got out of the room in time when the lights flicked off. Harry shut the door behind him and sighed. Why did this have to happen to him?

Harry walked away from the door to the horrid storage closet and into the next room.

Inside the new room, Harry saw the same yellow substance from before splashed onto a column underneath a picture of a stick man with red eyes. The yellow paint formed a message under the stick man that read: "Play hide and seek?" Just as he finished reading the message, the stick man disappeared and yellow buttons appeared on the other columns in the room, each button underneath a set of red curtains. His only choice was to go down the two rows and find which one the stick man was under.

Before beginning his search for the stick man, Harry decided to look around the room. At the top of the room, he found a painting of a large cleaver chopping a fish, "A Chef's Talent" it was called. He figured that this would be where he would get the head of the fish.

Harry went to the first row and began exploring his options, which weren't many. Harry began his search by pushing the first button. The curtains moved aside to reveal a crescent moon, the room suddenly became slightly darker.

Pushing the next button, the next curtain above moved to reveal a naked woman's body. The woman screamed and slapped him. Hard. His rose was put down to just four petals.

The next curtain revealed a very... sinister painting. The painting showed him, hanging upside down by a red rope that was tied around his ankle from the top of the painting. The painting did not harm him however, so he moved on.

Harry, out of options, decided to try the next row.

Harry pushed a new button, the next curtain moving back to show a music note. The music note did nothing what-so-ever so he moved on.

Sighing, Harry pressed the next button. This time the curtains pulled back to reveal the stick man from before. The same yellow substance splashed onto the column underneath it. "Found me, you get prize." It said. Just as he finished reading the new message, a faint 'thump' came from someplace not far from him. Walking to where the chef painting was, Harry saw a wooden fish head lying on the ground in front of it. Apparently the chef did his work.

Combining the fish head and tail, both fit perfectly together like a puzzle piece, Harry got his wooden fish.

Returning to the main room with the cat-thing, he slid the fish into the indentation. The cat's eyes suddenly turned red and sinister. The thing suddenly let out a low meow and several other meows rang in the air. A path way then opened up in the wall and Harry, reluctantly, began to walk down it.


	3. Chapter 3 - Saving the Blue Rose

_**Chapter 3 –Saving the Blue Rose**_

**AN:**

**Oni:**

**I do not own Harry **

**I do not own Garry**

**Nor Mary or Guertena**

**Ownership I do not carry**

**For the first ten chapters, I'm sorry**

**But right now I am only the beta**

**Harry: That was a terrible disclaimer – I think my ears are bleeding.**

**Mary: On with the story!**

* * *

Entering the next room Harry was met with a very silly painting. The painting was a red smiley face with its tongue hanging out of its mouth waving back and forth. As soon as Harry approached the painting however, it spit something at him. Immediately Harry backed away from the spit. He looked down at the spit only to see it eating away at the ground, it was like acid.

Next to the spitting painting, there was a small white painting. Looking closer Harry realized that there was a small 9 written in the center.

Moving over to the right he saw some yellow writing on the wall, "BEWARE OF LIPS". Walking further down, he saw a pair of red lips.

'This must be the lips that it was talking about," Harry thought.

Harry moved on down the hallway and picked up a letter off the ground. The letter read, "Just when you've forgotten..."

'Forgotten what?' Harry thought before a memory came to light.

"The black arms!" Harry remembered. "Of course..."

Harry walked cautiously down the center of the aisle. Near the end of the aisle, a lone black hand shot out of the wall and tried to grab him. Unfortunately for the hand, Harry was just out of its reach. At the end of the hallway, Harry saw something that greatly disturbed him at first glance.

To his right were what appeared to be children hanging from red ropes from the ceiling. Although he really didn't want to, he inspected them a little more closely. Up close, Harry could clearly see that the "children" were actually only dolls. As he walked farther down the hall, a doll suddenly dropped down and splayed on the floor.

Harry's curiosity perked up at the sudden event. Creeping over to the doll, he glanced down. An 18 was seen on the doll's clothes. A 9 and an 18... What could this possibly mean? As he moved on, he came across a yellow door.

The door seemed to require a password. X x X + X = ? Reading the problem, Harry realized that he was going to have to find a third number.

Going back, he discovered another yellow door. There was a sign in front of it, "The Liars' Room", it read. Turning the doorknob, he found that the door was unlocked.

In the room were six portraits of black silhouettes. On the left side, the silhouettes wore green, orange, and yellow clothing. On the right side were silhouettes wearing blue, white and red. Between the two sides was a single door. Entering, he saw a lone white statue. In front of the statue was an inscription reading, "There's an odd one out...". With this cryptic message in his head, Harry headed back to the liars. Standing in front of each portrait, he began to read the writing under each one.

The green portrait read, "Stand in front of the statue, go west 3 steps, then south 1 step. That's the answer!"

The orange portrait read, "Stand in front of the statue, go east 4 steps, then north 2 steps. That's the answer!"

The yellow portrait read, "The one in white speaks the truth!"

The blue portrait read, "The only truth-speaker wears green!"

The white portrait read, "Stand in front of the statue, go east 2 steps, then south 2 steps. That's the answer!"

The red portrait read, "I agree with the one in yellow!"

Apparently, all the portraits were lying except for one of them, he realized. Which one was telling the truth, though? Harry stood and analyzed his situation, thinking hard. Slowly but surely, the answer slowly dawned to him. Since they were all liars, whoever was supporting the other was helping build on their lie. This ruled out the red, yellow, and white portraits, since the white one initially lied and red and yellow were supporters. Only green, orange, and blue remained. He quickly concluded that green must have been lying because blue was backing him up, leaving orange as the only truth-speaker.

Following orange's instructions, he entered the room with the statue. Standing directly in front of it, he went right four steps and up two steps. There was a loose tile there, which he decided to pick up. On the bottom of the tile, there was a single number on its surface: 4. With this number, he could solve the puzzle!

The moment he read the number, he heard the sound of glass breaking, a large commotion in the other room. He was quite sure that he heard the sound of blades slashing flesh and a short, high pitched scream. Quickly, he returned to the other room that held the portraits.

All of the portraits had changed. All of the portraits, except orange, were holding weapons smeared with red crimson paint. The orange one was smashed into pieces, red paint dripping down from its canvas, like blood. The text inscribed under each one except the orange one had also changed, "Liar!" the text screamed.

The orange one's description was blotted out with the red paint.

Shuddering, Harry ran out and hurried over to the door that required a password. 18 x 9 + 4 = ? He figured, adding the numbers into their correct positions. Focusing on the equation, he began to write the equation out on his hand. Tracing out the multiplication, 18 x 9 =...162. Add 4 to it and that's 166! He entered the code in and a faint clicking sound of a door unlocking came back. He took a deep breath and entered.

Inside the room was a bunch of tree sculptures. A lone apple laid on one of them. Harry reached out and took the wooden apple. His thoughts traced back to the lips. Maybe it was hungry...?

As he walked back through the narrow hallway, another black hand reached out and tried to grab a hold of him. Startled as he did not expect another one of them, he dodged the hand and hurried to the red lips.

As Harry approached, the lips began to speak. "Hungry... Give food... That food... Give it to me..."

Not seeing anything else he could really do with the apple, he placed it into the opened mouth. As soon as the apple was placed, the lips began to move causing crunching noises to resound throughout the room. Soon the lips had finished eating the apple.

"This tasty... I let you pass now... Go through my mouth..."

The jaw stretched out long enough for him to fit inside. Hesitating at first, He eventually went inside.

The next room was filled with paintings of a guillotine. Walking down the hallway, he counted how many paintings of the same guillotine there were. There were a total of six. The first five were of the guillotine slowly ascending and by the sixth painting it was completely out of sight. For some strange reason, a feeling of uneasiness overcame him. He felt that something bad was going to happen. Making an insane assumption, Harry ran forward to the end of the hall then ran quickly back.

A humongous blade of a guillotine slid down quickly and smashed into the floor, the sound of thudding echoed around the room. The guillotine slowly ascended back up by a long red rope, leaving only a large crack in the ground from where it had fallen, the location that he would have been if he had not moved back. He had almost been killed, split in half by a guillotine.

Shuddering at the thought, Harry moved out of the hallway, carefully walking over the large crack, and down a staircase.

Moving along he noticed that the hallway was red. When he got to the end of the hall, he saw a fleeting shadow glide by. Gathering his courage, he pressed on. There was a painting of a white bird blowing into what appeared to be a horn, resulting in a pink gust of air. This painting was titled as "Breath". Harry continued on down the narrow corridor and was met by a red door at the end. Bracing himself for whatever resided behind the door, he opened the door.

Harry came to a sculpture of a blue women immediately as he entered the room. The sculpture resembled one of the sculptures he had seen before the gallery had begun to turn into whatever it was now. Strangely enough, the name of it was "Uh". On the other side of the room was another sculpture of the exact same women, the only difference was that it was colored red instead of blue. This sculpture was called "Ah". Looking closely however, he could make out slight differences in their facial expressions.

"How... Odd." Harry muttered to himself.

In between the two sculptures was a painting, however he couldn't read the first word. "? Pattern", Harry thought the painting looked very... messy.

Above "Uh" was two other paintings. One was a portrait of what looked to be a man in a suit smoking. It was called "Smoking ?". Harry sighed in frustration. Why were there so many words he didn't know?

The other painting was called "Heartbeat". It was just a simple green line against a black background. However, when he approached the painting, it made a wavy move and a beating sound, as if it was alive.

Above "Ah" was another two paintings. One painting, "Heart Wounds", looked like an arrow piercing the shadow of a realistic looking heart... The other painting was familiar to Harry; he had seen it in the gallery. It was the same painting that brought chills down his spine and made him want to run away in fear. This painting was titled "The Lady in Red".

Harry turned away from the painting and had only taken four steps forward when a loud sound came from behind him. Turning back around, Harry watched as the lady suddenly burst from the wall, crawling at him with her picture frame still intact. She roared and shrieked at him as she clawed her way forward.

Harry's legs shook in fear as he took a few steps back, the lady just clawed her way forward and reached out trying to scratch him with her long deadly claws. Snapping back to reality, he backed away from the now crawling painting. He didn't know what to do.

He ran.

Harry ran away from the painting, causing the lady to roar in rage. He dodged her advances and ran to the door.

It was locked.

"Bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed, he didn't know what to do; a crazy painting was after him and he needed to get past that door. Running again, He searched for something that could help him. His eyes landed on a red key. Harry dashed forward and scooped the key up, dodged a swipe from the Lady in Red, and sprinted to the locked door. He slid the key in and turned, a clicking sound of a door unlocking met his ears. Swinging the door open, he all but flew into the room before slamming the door shut behind him.

Going up to the next door, he tried to turn the doorknob. Locked. Again. Harry, still panting from the adrenaline, listened as a pounding sound on the door behind him resounded around the room. He stiffened. The lady was banging on the door to get in, screaming loudly. Any sense of security that he once had faded away as he realized that he would be trapped in the tiny room he was in if the lady were to come in. Harry began frantically searching the bookcases within the room for a key, or something, anything that would get him out of the room!

He came upon a book, "The Girls in the Canvas", Harry thought that it would be helpful if he learned something about the paintings, it certainly couldn't do any harm now could it?

"The women here become very ? once they ? a desire for humans. They'll always ? chase things until their satisfied, it seems... Anywhere, everywhere, to the ends of the earth..." The fact that he couldn't read some of the words coupled with this new found knowledge made him fall deeper into despair. However, at that moment Harry noticed something odd. There was no more banging on the door. He continued reading, "But they have one weakness, it's that they can't open doors on their own." Harry sighed in relief. It seemed that the Lady in Red couldn't open doors, and that could work well to his advantage.

Harry continued looking through the books, hoping that something in them could be helpful. He pulled out a book, not looking at its cover, and opened it to a random page. A slip of paper fell out of the book and onto the floor. Confused, he picked the slip of paper up and read what was written upon it. "** N**", it asked.

"Yes, I am having SO much fun right now!" Harry growled out sarcastically in response. He hated this twisted place already and he could tell that it was just going to get worse the farther he got. Sighing, he put the book back and continued searching. In his search he pulled out another book, "Moving Storybook: Written/Drawn by XXXX -Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois-" The book was much different from all the other books, this book being drawn entirely out of crayon. Sighing in frustration, Harry pushed the book back in. He needed to find a way out not read silly story books!

As Harry pushed the book back in he noticed another book sticking out. Harry decided to push it back in as well. As he did so, he heard a clicking sound come from the door. The door had become unlocked. Standing up from his position on the floor, he pulled himself up, took a deep breath, and went through.

On the other side, he could still hear the lady crawling around. She was relentlessly going to pursue him... He moved on up and saw a picture of a turquoise vase. It was titled, "Eternal Blessings". Underneath the picture was the vase itself. He pulled out his rose and glanced down, only three petals were left. Confused, he looked down at himself and noticed a large scratch going across his leg. Blinking, he realized that he most have gotten scratched by the Lady in Red while he was running, he hadn't even noticed. He sighed, he really was too use to pain if he hadn't even noticed another injury. He slid the rose into the vase and watched as the rose suddenly sprang to life, four more petals grew and he felt his injuries heal. His rose now held seven white petals. Harry began to look at where his injuries once were and was shocked. All of his injuries were healed, even a few of his past injuries that he had received from his relatives.

Harry felt a lot more confident in his exploration of the terrible world he was trapped in, now he knew that there was still some hope of him escaping after all.

* * *

From the turquoise vase, he moved right. In the next room he saw a painting... and someone lying on the floor!

The painting was "? Art", yet another word he did not know. More importantly, was the guy lying on the ground. Harry had seen this guy before! He was the purple-haired teen that had been looking at the "Hanged Man" in the gallery before. Harry ran to the teen's side and called out to the guy.

"...Ugh..." was the only reply. The teen sounded to be in great pain.

Harry's people-saving-thing kicked into gear. He wasn't going to let someone lay on the ground in pain, dying. Harry noticed all of the wounds covering the teen's body and the teen was bleeding profusely. Harry looked around for something he could do or use to help the teen. In the corner of his eye, he spotted something. The teen was gripping something shiny in his hand; a key.

"I'm sorry..." Harry muttered to the teen before he reached out and took the key.

"I'll come back," he declared before rushing out of the room and into the room that was behind the teen.

As he ran, he passed another of those smiley face paintings with the tongue hanging out. Thankfully, it didn't spit at him.

In the next room, there was a headless statue in front of a red door. The statue did not move to attack him, however. It just stood there, motionless. The statue proved to be too heavy to move so he backtracked. As he went back, he passed the teen who was in agony.

"I'm sorry I can't do anything to help you..." It pained Harry to see someone like this, in so much pain. Harry wanted - no - NEEDED to help this teen.

Harry ran forward, a new determination pumped though his veins, he was going to help this teen even if it was the last thing he did.

He returned to the room with the vase. Running, he went past the vase and entered the next room.

The next room, he noticed familiar notices posted on the wall near an empty vase. "When the rose withers, so too will you wither away." "You and the rose are ? Know the weight of your own life." Even though he didn't understand one of the words, he understood what the notices implied.

Could... Could that teen back there have lost his rose? Is that why he is weak and dying?

As he walked on, he noticed blue petals on the ground. Those petals were not his... Harry realized that those petals must have belonged to the teen. But, who or what could have done this? He went on, following the petals. He eventually reached the end of the hall, the petals leading to a puddle of blood and a missing portrait. The plaque read, "The Lady in Blue".

Harry's mind went blank. His body began to shake as fear started to crawl into the depths of his psyche. There was another woman crawling around on the floor. And she actually took down someone older than him. But... where was she now?

Looking around the room, he noticed a door and a window. He also noticed that the blue rose petals led from the wall to the door. Unfortunately, he couldn't see through the window and his only choice left was to use the teen's key to unlock the door and to go inside. His curiosity got the best of him so he slid the key into the lock and turned, the door clicked to signal that it was now unlocked.

With the courage of a Gryffindor, he opened the door and entered.

As soon as he entered he heard the sound of someone noisily rummaging through something, muttering unintelligible things to themselves. 'This is no doubt the lady,' He thought to himself. He crept forward and tried to get a better view.

As he approached, the noises stopped. Harry sensed that the lady was looking right at him. Quickly, he noiselessly took a few steps back. After a few seconds of silence, the noises returned.

He couldn't do this, he was going to die if he tried to do anything. He wanted to leave, to run away from there.

'If you run away, that guy will die!' His mind screamed at him. 'If you and that guy switched places, would he have saved you?'

Acting braver than he felt, he ran out from his hiding spot and saw her. The Lady in Blue.

Instantly, she lunged at him and shrieked. She tried to grab, bite, and scratch him. But Harry was too fast. He dodged her advances and searched desperately for the teen's rose. There, he saw it. A blue rose. Quickly, he plucked the rose from the ground and ran from the room, fear and adrenaline pumping through him.

As he left the room, he breathed a sigh of relief. A silly grin came upon his face. He had done it! He had gotten the teen's rose back! He won! The woman lost!

"Ahahaha..." He laughed softly, still panting.

Then, suddenly, a loud crash came from behind him. The sound of glass shattering rang out through the air. The woman had broken through the window. How could he have been so stupid! He had somehow forgotten about the window!

The lady resumed her pursuit and Harry glided out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Panting once again, he walked over to "Eternal Blessings" and placed the blue rose into the vase. It was instantly replenished and brand new.

Harry found captivated by the rose. It was beautiful. The rose was a shade of royal blue and seemed to practically glow in the light. Small dew drops on the petals reflected the light, a fresh earthly smell coming off it.

Shaking himself back to reality, Harry rushed back to the teen to see how he was doing.

* * *

Walking over to the teen, Harry crouched down and held out the blue rose. The teen only replied with a weak "...Mmm..." However, the teen eventually lifted his head up. Now that the teen was looking up, Harry could clearly make out the attractive face of a young male. The teen had lavender colored hair with a few darker streaks, his bangs were covering his left eye.

"What's this? The pain's gone...ah?" The older teen muttered.

Looking up, the teen's eyes met Harry's. Sapphire-blue met emerald-green.

Blinking, the teen looked at the blue rose being held out to him, then back to Harry. He looked back down before reaching out a hand to take the offered rose. The teen's fingers brushed Harry's as he carefully took the rose.

Harry's heart seemed to quicken as their fingers brushed, he could only watch as the teen pulled himself up, sliding the rose into his pocket. The teen looked down at Harry.

"Could you be... perhaps someone from the gallery?" The teen asked Harry curiously.

Harry nodded, unable to speak.

"So you are! Oh thank heavens!" the teen exclaimed, relieved. "There's someone here besides me!" Then the teen looked at Harry and extended his hand. "Here, I'll help you up."

Shocked at the gesture, Harry slowly placed his hand into the teen's larger one.

"Thanks..."

Smiling kindly, the teen pulled Harry back onto his feet. "No problem. So do you possibly know how this happened?"

For the next few minutes, Harry and the elder teen exchanged stories on how they had turned up where they were now. "So I see... You don't have any clue how things got to this point, either. It would seem we wound up in very similar situations..." The teen said, pulling his beautiful blue rose from the pocket of his tattered coat and stared at it.

"Even down to these roses. Wounds appear on me when my rose loses its petals... I thought I was a goner there... Thank you for getting it back," He quietly spoke as he turned to Harry, his eyes shining with sincere gratitude.

"...Now first things first... We'd better find a way out," He declared. He gave a tired look. "I think I'll go mad if I stay in this dreadful place for too long..."

"Ah, I still haven't asked your name. My, that was rude of me!" The teen exclaimed, cheeks dusted pink in embarrassment. "Well, my name's Garry. And you are?" The teen inquired.

"I'm Harry..." He replied softly, still not used to having someone talk to him and be so kind to him before. He knew that he should be used to it, after all, at Hogwarts and in the wizarding world everyone was so kind to him. Being at the Dursley's for so long, he wasn't prepared for someone to be so nice to him.

"Harry... Harry you say," Garry said to himself, seemingly testing out the name. Garry walked a few steps forward. "I can't very well leave a young boy as yourself wander into danger, no, no. ...So I'll go with you! Okay?"

He turned to face Harry with a new found confidence. "Now, let's go, Harry!"

A true smile found its way onto Harry's face. Although he just met Garry, he felt more safe and confident with the elder teen by his side. Garry seemed very kind and he found the older teen very easy to like. Harry didn't even mind that Garry had called him young even though he was a teenager and probably was only a few years younger than the older teen himself. Harry walked over to Garry's side.

"Yeah! Let's go." He replied, looking up at Garry, green eyes glowing with happiness.

Both teens looked at each other and took a step forward, prepared for whatever the twisted world threw at them... Or maybe not.

As they took a step forward, the silly painting spat at them. Harry himself was not really surprised, Garry on the other hand was.

"HYEEEK!" Garry screamed, falling onto his back, eyes wide. Although he would never admit it, Harry giggled at the reaction and watched as Garry quickly scrambled back to his feet, face red with embarrassment.

"... I... I was just a bit startled! R-Really, that's all it was!" He said as he tried to explain himself. Harry just walked over and patted Garry on the shoulder, still giggling to himself.

"Anywayyy... Let's keep going, and watch out for such bizarre things as that!" Garry said, dismissing his fear.

"Come along then, mate. We need to get out of this crazy place."

"Right. Let's get out of here, Harry."

* * *

Both teens entered the next room. The headless mannequin was still there, blocking the door. Garry stepped to the side of it, preparing his muscles.

"What a lousy place for this thing..." He grumbled. "Step back a tad, would you, Harry?"

Nodding, Harry stepped out of the way and watched as Garry extended his arms.

"And... Heave!" Garry pushed the statue so that it was no longer obstructing their path.

"Ta-dah!" He said with a flourish and a bow.

"Wow, you're quite strong, Garry." Harry complemented, eyes bright with a bit of awe. He hadn't expected Garry to be able to move the mannequin so easily.

"Not really, I guess I'm strong enough to be proficient, though." Garry replied, scratching his cheek in slight embarrassment at the praise.

"Nonsense! I would have never been able to even nudge that thing. It probably weighs over eighty pounds!"

"Well... We shall test that thought! Next time we come across a mannequin that needs to be moved, you'll move it."

"What?! Never!" Harry exclaimed, running out the door.

Chuckling, Garry ran out after Harry.

"We'll see about that!"

...

Neither teen noticed the baby-blue eyes watching them from a distance, eyes following Harry, a small smile upon the beings lips.

"We will get out of here together. I will become real, taking the place of the other, and we will be best friends **forever**..."

The being clutched the fake yellow rose in its hand as the being spoke, loneliness evident in its voice as well as a slight possessiveness...

...


	4. Chapter 4 - Labyrinths and Rings

_**Chapter 4 – Labyrinths and Rings**_

**AN:**

**Oni: As all of this is practically going up at the same time, I'm pretty sure all of you get the gist of – I don't own anything!**

**Not Harry Potter, not Ib, not the majority of the content until chapter ten. For those who were reading Lindsey6500's version of the story, you could see slight additions if you squint but other than that, this is aaaaaaaall Lindsey6500's work.**

* * *

Laughing, Harry entered the next room and was followed by Garry. Garry ran up and easily trapped Harry in his arms.

"Got you!" Garry exclaimed, chuckling.

"Yes, you did catch me," Harry said laughing, then his smile turned into a smirk. "Not for long though!"

Harry easily twisted and escaped the hold/hug, turned around and did what any other mature teenager would do; he stuck his tongue out.

Garry rolled his eyes at the gesture but was unable to hide the amusement in his eyes and the fond smile on his lips.

With a grin on his face, Harry laughed and gazed around the room. The room had two sculptures and two paintings. On the left was a portrait of a bride who was holding a bouquet of pink flowers, she looked very sad. She was titled "Grieving Bride". In front of the portrait was a sculpture of a wicked black hand reaching from the floor, "Sorrowful Bride's Left Hand", it was called. To the right were, similarly, a painting of a groom who, like the bride, looked very sad. "Grieving Groom", it was called. In front of it was another sculpture of a reaching black hand, "Sorrowful Bride's Right Hand". The black hands seemed to be desperately searching for something, they clenched and extended, grasping the air above them. Harry guessed that these black hands were the ones trying to attack him earlier.

Both teens headed into the next room. To their right they saw a picture of coffee and cake. Not very important, but both of them were kind of hungry at that moment...

Both of them decided to check the room on the left side first. The room was structured like a maze. The notice on the wall in front of them easily confirmed this. "Labyrinth", it said.

"Why does the ceiling have to be so low," Garry complained. Looking up, Harry realized that what Garry said was true; the ceiling was very low. The ceiling was only a few inches higher than his own head. Garry, on the other hand, did not have that luxury. Garry was too tall for the room so, in order to fit inside, he was forced to crouch slightly, head banging on the wall from his attempts to walk around inside. He muttered something under his breath, but Harry didn't catch any words of what the purple haired teen was saying, barely noticing that Garry was fidgeting with something in his pocket.

Harry forced himself to restrain a laugh from the sight. "You could stay outside the room you know,"

Harry began, eyes focused on Garry. "I could finish the maze myself."

"No. I'll go with you; this place is dangerous so it would be best to not go alone."

Shrugging, Harry spoke. "Alright. Are you sure that..."

"I am."

Harry simply nodded in response. He could just tell that nothing he could say or do would make Garry stay out of the room.

"Let's go then. The faster we go, the faster we'll finish it."

* * *

To their dismay, it turned out that they were not alone in the maze. Garry was right; it was dangerous to go alone because there were three headless statues in red dresses wandering around. Luckily, the mannequins were not too fast as the two of them made their way to the back of the room. As they wandered the room, they found a sign that read, "Check directly south from the red paint."

Unfortunately, there were three splotches of red paint within the room so they had to check more than one. As they weaved through the labyrinth, they came across another sign that read, "There's a trick to solving mazes... Hug the right hand side of the wall and you'll reach the end eventually."

"Not a bad trick..." Garry commented. "But that doesn't help the ceiling being too low for comfort. Not to mention those weird things loitering around... gives me the creeps. Be careful not to get trapped between them, okay, Harry?"

"Don't worry about me," Harry responded. "And I told you that you could have waited outside."

"How can I not worry? You're still younger than me, so it is within my duty to protect you," Garry said, arms crossed. "I'm not going to wait for you outside when something could happen to you while you're in here."

Harry sighed, he knew Garry wasn't going to let him go alone. Honestly, it made his heart flutter and soar to know that someone cared for him. It made him feel important. He was glad that Garry was there with him, he never did like being alone even though he should be used to it.

"Alright, I won't argue. We should probably get moving though, I can hear the mannequins not far off..."

Continuing on, there was another message on the wall. "Do you like mazes?" It asked. Obviously, neither boy did. Checking to the south of the red paint splotch, there was a switch on the wall. Immediately, they ran up and pressed it. After that, not wanting to stay in that horrid maze any longer than they had to, they ran out of the room.

They decided to go down the hall on the left side of the labyrinth first. Going over, they noticed some sort of markings on the floor. When they approached, the markings turned into eyes. There were about nine of them in total. All of which were darting back and forth. One of them was pink and swollen.

"Yaaaah! What is THAT?! Gross is what!" exclaimed a disgusted Garry, obviously not well adjusted to their environment. "Why are there EYES on the FLOOR...?!"

Harry shrugged in response. "Who knows? This entire place is strange."

Shuddering, Garry replied. "That is an understatement..."

Walking forward, the two of them observed the swollen eye.

"D... Does this lone eye have a congestion problem?" Garry pondered.

The two of them continued down the hall and came upon some paintings. A painting of a girl, some ice, a white snake, and some sort of scenery. On closer inspection, there was a hole where the snake's eye should be.

They passed the paintings and went through the door that was next to them. Inside was a cluttered mess. Stools and easels were everywhere. On a lone stool, on the far side of the room, was a small blue colored bottle. They didn't know what it was, but it looked important.

From the left side of the room they slowly make their way over to the bottle, pushing stools out of the way as they went. Until, finally, they reached the bottle. Up close, they could now tell that the bottle was actually a bottle of eye-drops.

They exited the room and returned to the congested eye. It turned its gaze to them, pleading. Even though it was an eye, Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for it. He wanted to help it. Taking the bottle in hand, he squeezed a few drops into the eye. The eye's congestion was cured. Suddenly, the eye moved up to a wall and stared intensely at it, in contrast to the other eyes darting back and forth.

Looking more closely, they were able to see that the wall was a different color than the rest of it. Harry walked over and inspected the wall. What he discovered caused him to let out a small gasp, excitement coursing through him.

"Are you alright, Harry? You're shaking..." Garry asked, concern in his eyes.

"Garry! Come here quickly! I found a secret passage!"

Walking over, he found that Harry was right, it _was_ a secret passage. The room was almost entirely empty, the only thing that was in it was a red glass ball. Harry went over and slid it into his pocket.

"Well there's nothing left in this room. Let's go find where this needs to go."

"... Maybe it goes to the painting of the snake...?"

Harry blinked and thought back. The snake painting was indeed missing what would have been its eye.

Harry's eyes widened and he quickly left the room, Garry rushed out to follow. Harry made his way to the snake painting and pulled out the ball.

"Might as well try..."

Harry brought up the ball and slid it into the hole where the eye socket was. It was a perfect fit.

"Garry, you are a genius."

Garry simply laughed.

Something stirred in the back of Harry's mind. He stared at the painting until the memory hit him.

The bright, glowing red eyes that stared at him from a pale white, snakelike face was all too familiar to him now.

"_Use the boy…"_

A small crash turned their attention to their right, and knocked Harry out of his brief stupor, reminding him once more where he was. The painting of the scenery had fallen down. On the back of its frame was a message, "Behind the big tree..."

"Big tree? I don't remember seeing a tree anywhere." Garry remarked.

"Let's look around; maybe the button we pushed in the labyrinth did something," Harry said.

The two of them went around the hall, looking to see if there was something different. Near the painting of the coffee and cake was a door.

"That definitely wasn't there before," Garry mumbled. Harry nodded in agreement.

"I don't know how we didn't notice it before if it was there the whole time. Might as well check it out though, after all, we got nothing else we can really do."

When they neared the door however, Harry felt fear gripping at him. Just what was behind the big tree...? Well, he did have Garry with him. Sure, Garry wasn't exactly the bravest person out there, but he made Harry feel more confident and safe. Truthfully, Garry reminded him of Hagrid. They both were what you would consider strange, but they both had a kind of aura around them, an aura that made him feel calm and stronger, like he could do anything that he wanted if he put his mind to it. Both of them also made Harry feel more safe and protected; he would trust the both of them with his life.

He also reminded Harry of someone else, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out who that person was.

As he thought this, Harry felt a little braver as he watched Garry open the door.

* * *

As they entered the room, the lights began to flicker. It was a bit scary, especially with all of the weird sculptures that littered the room. To the far left was "Wine Sofa", a sofa inside a wine glass.

"That doesn't look like very comfortable sitting..." criticized Garry. Harry had to agree with him.

The next bust he couldn't read, but Garry could. It read, "Melancholy". It was a head with curled hair and sunken eyes.

"Melancholy, huh? Well really, who wouldn't be in this place?" Garry remarked.

The next piece was "Puzzle". It appeared to be a multicolored skeleton. Garry shot him a nervous look. "I assume this is fake?" Harry just shrugged in response.

The last sculpture was "Feeling". It was a tree sculpture that vaguely resembled a person. "You gotta be pretty clever to come up with this stuff..." noted Garry. Harry nodded in response and replied. "I don't know how any artist could come up with these things if they weren't clever." Garry smiled for some reason.

Looking over at the branches his emerald eyes spotted something. It was small and it shined silver. Reaching out, Harry took the object into his hand. Garry leaned over Harry's shoulder and both teens looked at the object held in Harry's opened palm.

"Isn't this... a wedding ring?" Garry said with a surprised look. "Now what would this be doing here?"

"I'm not sure," Harry said, thinking back. Why would a wedding ring be here? What could he do with a wedding ring?

"... The hands... The hands! Of course, how could I have forgotten?" Harry exclaimed, excitement coursing through him. The ring must be what the bride's hands were searching for.

"Hands? Wait... Ah, I understand. The bride must need the ring." Garry said as he looked to Harry with a smile.

"Exactly. Come on, let's get this to the bride!" Harry said, grabbing Garry's jacket sleeve, he began pulling Garry out of the room.

The two of them returned to the marriage room. The hands were still desperately grasping at the air.

Remembering that a wedding ring goes, Harry went over the bride's left hand and placed the ring on its ring finger. Suddenly the hands stopped moving. The bride and the groom smiled at him, their eyes bright with happiness. The inscriptions for the paintings and sculptures had changed from the words "Sorrowful" and "Grieving" to "Blessed". Walking over to the bride, he watched as she flung her bouquet out of the portrait, right to him. Harry easily caught the bouquet in his arms. Harry heard a chuckle from beside him. Looking up, his eyes focused on Garry.

"I guess this means that you're going to get married soon!" Garry joked.

Harry just looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, so it seems you've not heard of the significant meaning of catching a bride's bouquet. Well, usually it deals with a young girl, but when a bride throws a bouquet and a lucky girl catches it, the girl who catches it will get married next!"

Looking at him with a blank look, Harry walked up to him, brought the bouquet up, and whacked Garry on the shoulder. It wasn't a hard hit, but it was enough. "Very funny, Garry." However, no matter how hard he tried, Harry was unable to hide the amusement in his eyes and the grin that trying to make its way onto his lips. He enjoyed small moments such as these where he could joke around and have fun.

Even though he hadn't been with Garry long, he already felt attached to the older teen.

Garry laughed at his reaction and the two them headed down the only area they hadn't gone to yet. At the end of the hall was a ghastly portrait, a blue spirit haunting the painting. It had a jagged smile and wandering eyes.

When they approached it, the painting began to speak. "Ehehehehe, heehehehe... Flowers... flowers're nice... Give me that there flower and I'll let you through... ehehe... ehehe... your flower, pretty please?"

Harry followed the painting's gaze and found that it was staring right at his pure white rose which was currently sticking out of his pocket slightly. Harry knew he couldn't give it his rose; his rose was his life after all. He could give it something else though.

"I can't let you have my rose but here," Harry said, holding the bouquet up to the painting. "You can have this."

"Ehehehe, thanks... It smells niice... eheheh," It said, smelling the flowers. "Well, chowtime!" The painting shouted as it turned red and snatched the flowers out of his hand. Harry stumbled backwards and both teens watched as it violently mashed down its jaws on the bouquet. Harry shuddered. Who knows what would've happened to him if he had given it his rose. Garry, seeing the younger's reaction, reached out and a set his hand on Harry's shoulder. On impulse, Harry flinched at the touch before slowly relaxing. Although curious, Garry didn't say anything, instead, he just squeezed the younger boy's shoulder in reassurance. Harry found himself leaning into the touch.

"Ahhh, that was good... eheheh. Thank you, thanks so much..." It gratefully told Harry after it finished its meal. "As promised, you can go through."

The frame swung open and the painting vanished. "Just take this door in... Well, see ya... eheheheh!" said the painting as it let them in.

Harry turned and looked up at Garry, who turned to look at Harry. Both of them took a deep breath, nodded to each other, and stepped through the door.


	5. Chapter 5 - Portraits

_**Chapter 5 - Portraits**_

**AN:**

**Oni: *Throws up hands in the air* I own nothing!**

**Garry: Well, except some little details. But that's really not much.**

* * *

The next room ended up being kind of cramped. They immediately saw another door and went through. They were completely unprepared for the next room.

Two rows of mannequin heads lined the entire hallway. If that wasn't disturbing enough, there were three portraits of a vampire-like man hanging on the wall. The first painting was a light blue and the man's eyes were staring straight out. The second was red and the eyes followed them as they walked past. The last one was green and the eyes had no pupils at all.

The next room was even more terrifying. As they walked up the room, they saw four portraits. All Ladies in Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue. Harry briefly mused that these were the four House colors back at Hogwarts. The two of them did not dare go near them. Taking a few steps back, the two of them headed down the room instead. There were four headless statues which thankfully did not move. One of the doors they spotted was found to be locked so they decided to check out the rest of the room.

Noticing a window, they glanced inside. A frog-like shadow seemed to swim by. Moving on, they found that the next door was locked as well.

To the right of them were three more portraits of Ladies in Blue, Red, and Green. Avoiding the portraits, they headed up. From there, they saw three more portraits of Ladies in Yellow, Green, and Blue. This was bad... Harry could sense that something bad was going to happen soon. He didn't want to go any further, but he knew he had to.

To the right of "The Lady in Blue" was a familiar painting. It was "The Hanged Man". It depicted a man hanging upside-down from his feet with a red rope.

"Ah. This was one of the paintings in the gallery," noted Garry. Sensing Harry's fear, Garry went up and investigated the painting. He inspected the man's clothing. "5629" it read. Perhaps the man was a convict on death row...

To the left of "The Lady in Yellow" was a headless statue. Once again, it thankfully didn't move.

Above them were two more portraits of Ladies in Red and Yellow as well as another headless statue.

Finally, the last two portraits in the room were Ladies in Red and Blue.

Two doors to their left were locked and required passwords. The one on the right had a question on it.

"How many paintings of women are there in this room?"

"Let's split up; I'll count the amount of paintings on the left side, you can count the amount of paintings on the right," Harry said. Garry turned to him.

"Alright, but if anything happens over there I want you to call for me."

Harry nodded in response. He would have called for Garry if anything happened anyways, so it wasn't a big deal.

They split apart and the two of them counted the amount of woman paintings on their side. After they counted all of the paintings on their side they returned to the door.

"I counted about ten paintings on my side. And you?" Garry said as he walked over to the door.

"There was only four on the left side," Harry replied.

Garry nodded and typed the number fourteen into the keypad on the door. A click signaling that the door was now unlocked came back. The two of them entered the room.

They saw a vase, a notice on the wall, and a bookcase. As they walked forward, they heard a crash of glass outside the room. One of the ladies must have broken loose, they realized.

The notice on the wall read, "Please do not touch the displays. If by any chance you damage any exhibits, you will b comp sat n." Some of the letters were missing.

Walking up to the bookcase, Harry scanned the books and pulled out a book titled "Wonderful Days". He opened the book and read what was written within its pages. "The gallery is like an amusement park with lots of strange things! It's so much fun playing here, the day was over before I knew it! Isn't it a fantastic place? Why won't you join me here? You'll be fine with all this company..." Harry put the book back onto the shelf.

'This place is horrid. Why would I ever want to stay here? This place is _not_ fun and what company was that book talking about? The only person here except me is Garry and everything else is a crazy painting or mannequin.' Harry thought.

"There's nothing else here. We should get going."

Garry nodded. "Alright, let's get going then." With that, the two of the exited the room.

When they left the room, they discovered that one of the Ladies in Red was crawling around, madly searching for prey. They quickly hurried over to the door on the left side. The door simply said, "Enter password." It was a four digit code.

"Where are we going to find a password?!" Garry exclaimed, nervously checking behind them, watching for the Lady in Red.

"Well the only thing of numbers I remember seeing were on the Hanged Man's clothes," Harry said simply. "I don't remember what they were though. Do you?"

"Ah, well the numbers were 5629." Garry replied.

Harry went over and typed in the numbers. Nothing happened.

"Harry, the painting lady is coming!" Garry exclaimed, backing up as the painting lady spotted them and clawed her way forward.

"Hold on! Those numbers have to be the ones to the password, but why isn't it opening?!" Harry typed in the password again and again, but like before, nothing happened.

'Wait, the Hanged Man was upside-down wasn't he? So the numbers would be upside down too!' Harry thought. 'That's gotta be it!"

Harry quickly typed in the numbers "6295" and a click came back.

"Come on; the door's opened!" Harry shouted as he swung the door open. Garry quickly rushed in, the Lady in Red right behind him. Both teens quickly slammed the door shut and Garry slid down the wall, panting slightly.

"... I never want to do that again... That was scary. I thought we were goners for sure," Garry said as Harry sat down against the wall next to him.

"Neither do I... I hope we get out of here soon though; I don't want to stay in this place for any longer than I have to..." Harry responded. "I hope we won't come into any more close calls like that again."

Garry nodded. "I hope so too, Harry. I do **not **want to die in a place like this... I just want to get out of here, finish school, get a good job, and hopefully settle down with someone."

Harry sighed, "I just want to see my friends again and finish my schooling. I don't really care what happens after that, but it would be nice to be with someone."

"What about your parents?" Garry asked, looking at Harry curiously.

Harry swallowed hard, but answered the question truthfully. "My parents died when I was only a year old; they were murdered when they tried to protect me from a mad man."

Garry's eyes went wide. "I... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's alright. You didn't know and I was the one who told you. It's just that.. Well I don't remember my parents at all..."

Garry nodded to the response and put his hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed. "Come on, let's not talk about sad things like this." Garry gave him a gentle smile and got up. Garry reached out and held his hand out to Harry. "Let's get out of here." Harry's eyes widened before a smile lit his features. He reached out and set his hand into Garry's.

"Yeah... Let's get out of here; together."

* * *

As Garry pulled him up, the two of them glanced around the room, taking in the details.

The room was simple like the one before. There was an easel with a canvas, a stool, and a table with a vase. On the canvas was a painting of a table with a vase. Harry looked on the ground and noticed four holes equally apart.

"Uh... Garry? I think this is a puzzle..."

Garry looked around once more. "I think so too... What do we need to do though?"

Harry studied the room, thinking deeply.

"I think we need to... We need to move the table to where the dots are on the floor." Harry responded.

The two of them pushed the table forward until the table was on top of all of the dots. A click was heard.

"I think we solved it!" Garry exclaimed cheerfully. Harry nodded enthusiastically.

"All we need to do now is find out what it did."

The two of them left the room and were surprised at what they saw. A mannequin head was sitting beside the door, waiting for them.

"... Was this thing here earlier? I... don't think it was..." Garry wondered, nervously.

"It... wasn't here earlier..." Harry hesitantly confirmed, nervously backing away from the head.

The two of them quickly headed to the right side of the room, dodging the lady who was crawling after them. They came to a door that surprisingly enough turned out to be unlocked. The duo rushed inside and shut the door.

The room was definitely bigger than the ones before, although the only thing in it was a mirror. The two of them walked over to the mirror and looked at their reflections. Looking into the mirror, Harry noticed a few things about their appearances. One of which was clothes.

Garry's tattered jacket looked almost like a shadowy cloak, framing over the light green sleeveless shirt he was wearing as well as his tan pants. His clothes fit snugly over his lean body. Harry's clothes, on the other hand, hung loosely over his thin body. The gray shirt he was wearing was at least two times his size, even though it was the smallest shirt he owned. His jeans fit him a little better but were ripped at the knees.

Another thing he noticed was how they looked. Both of them had dark circles around their eyes and looked stressed. Harry's eyes in particular had changed from emerald-green to a shade of pale green, while Garry's had turned…grey?

The last thing he noticed was the height difference. Garry had to be about ten inches taller than him, Harry being 5' 2. That meant that Garry had to be about 6 feet tall.

The two of them turned to leave but were stopped at what they saw. It was a mannequin head. It was blocking their way out.

"What the... When did this get in the room?" Garry asked. They turned to the mirror to see if there was a way out.

When they looked at their reflections, Harry sensed that something was... _different_. Harry looked at his body and saw that everything looked the same as it did before. He looked over to Garry and his eyes widened in shock and fear. There was a white head behind Garry's shoulder, staring at the older teen.

The hairs on the back of his neck shot straight up at the sight.

"... Hm?" Pondered Garry, clueless of the situation, as he noticed the frightened look on Harry's face. He followed Harry's gaze. Finally noticing the apparition, he shrieked, "EEEEEK!" and he fell backwards. The mannequin lay on the floor behind them.

"W-Wh-WHAT is THAT?!" yelled Garry as he scrambled up onto his feet. His frightened expression turned to one of anger. He stomped over to the head. "Y... Why, you...!" he angrily said as he pulled back his leg in preparation to kick it. However, he was stopped by a pair of thin arms wrapping around his waist and a head burying into his back.

"Garry, it's just a mannequin; no need to hurt it." Harry said, voice muffled from Garry's jacket.

"... ... R-Right, Harry. My, that was immature of me..." muttered Garry.

When Harry released him from the hug, Garry turned to him and gave a quick smile. "Well... let's go."

With new bravery, valor, and courage worthy of a Gryffindor, they left the room.

They scoured around the room until they found a key on the ground. They walked over to it and Garry picked it up. The two of them moved forward when, without warning, one of the Ladies in Red burst on from the wall and went after them. Luckily, they were able to out run it.

Yet another lady burst from where she was affixed, this time it was "The Lady in Blue". A form that was much faster than the other ladies caught his eye. It seemed that "The Lady in Green" was a speed demon, angrily propelling herself forward with astonishing speed. They found themselves in front of the door next to a window. Garry quickly slid the key in and a click resounded back to them as a result. Garry swung the door open and pulled Harry into the room before slamming the door shut behind them.

In the next room, there was a familiar sight. It was "Reserved Seat," the comfortable couch. An easel to the right of it said, "If you're tired, why not rest? You'll never be hurt again..." The two of them plopped down onto the couch and settled into a comfortable silence. When their hearts finally calmed down to a normal pace, they got up and looked around the room.

Harry felt paranoia fill him as he noticed the window in the back. He remembered that the paintings could break through the windows and he feared that one of the paintings would find a way to reach it. After all, "The Lady in Blue" did it before, what was stopping her from doing it again?

"Garry... Could you move something to cover that window?" He asked. However, he didn't tell Garry the reason why he wanted something to cover it. Garry went over and tested the large bookcase next to it. "Ah. It seems this can be moved. Okay! Step back a bit, Harry." He heaved the bookcase.

"Heave ho... ho!" And with that, he pushed on the bookcase and it slid over to cover the window.

Garry's face showed a little disappointment, Harry guessed this was because there might have been something on the other side that could have helped them. "It's covering the window... Oh well."

With that out-of-the-way, they looked at the large painting on the wall. It was named "Couple". The depicted people looked like... his parents.

The woman on the left of the painting had long, curly red hair and emerald-green eyes that shined. She was smiling softly.

The man on the right had short, messy black hair and a warm smile on his lips. Behind a pair of glasses that looked exactly like Harry's own was a pair of deep brown eyes that were filled with love. His arm was wrapped around the woman in a close hold.

"What is it, Harry?" Garry asked, concerned as he saw the shocked look on the younger boy's face. Harry didn't even notice the question, all he could do was stare at the painting in shock.

"... Mum?... Dad?" Harry asked, still shocked at seeing the painting there.

Garry's eyes widened as he turned to the painting. "Huh?! The people in this painting are your dad and mom?" asked Garry with a slight sense of bewilderment. He looked at them before looking back at Harry.

"Aha... You do look a lot like them; you have your father's hair and eyesight but you have more of your mother's facial structure and eyes. Wow... I..." Garry spoke. Harry nodded. "I hear that a lot," he responded. Harry continued gazing at the painting.

"For good reason too; you're a perfect blend of both your parents. I just wonder why such a painting would be down here..."

Harry pulled his eyes away from the painting. "I... I just... I don't..." Harry was unable to speak. Tears filled his eyes as he glanced back at the painting. "Why did they have to die...?"

Harry found himself pulled into a tight, comforting hug. Immediately, he stiffened at the contact before slowly relaxing into the hold.

"It's alright, Harry. I'm very sorry about the loss of your parents but it's in the past now. You got the rest of your life to live, so don't think such sad thoughts. You can't change things of the past." Garry told him as he rubbed Harry's back. "I wish I could do something to help you, but I can't." Harry nodded and buried his head into Garry's chest, his hands clutched onto Garry's tattered jacket as if it were a life line.

It hurt seeing his parents but Garry was right, it was in the past. Right now he was in a crazy art gallery.

Now was not the time to grieve over the loss of his parents.

Harry reluctantly pulled away from the hug and looked down at his feet, his face red. "I'm sorry. It's very stupid of me to act like this when we have more important things to dwell over..."

"Nonsense! It's perfectly fine for you to react this way, after all, it must be very hard to see your parents like this. Are you alright though?" Garry told him. Harry nodded in response. "I'm fine... Thank you..."

Garry smiled at him kindly before ruffling his black hair. "No problem. Let's get going." Harry smiled back and the two of them headed over to the door. Garry reached out and turned the handle.

"Th-The door... won't open." Garry said, eyes wide. "Wh... Are you kidding me? The door was wide open..."

A sudden banging sound came from the door and the two of them quickly backed away. "T-That sound... is that coming from outside?" Asked a stupefied Garry.

Whoever, or whatever it was, banged on the door some more. "Something's at the door... be careful, Harry." Garry cautioned.

The two of them hurried around the room, searching for a way out. All of a sudden, a part of the wall in the back of the room exploded into pieces. A Lady in Yellow came through and started coming after them. Seeing a way out, they evaded her attacks and crawled through the hole in the wall.

To their horror, nearly all the portraits and statues in the room were mobile. They were all seeking them, searching for them. Looking around quickly, Garry spotted a nearby door that was opened slightly. He reached out grabbed ahold of Harry's hand and rushed forward. Harry ran along with him and they raced towards the door, getting clawed a bit as they went. They ran into the room and slammed the door behind them. Even with the door shut, they continued running down the hall.

Panting and trying to catch their breath, they stopped for a bit. "... ... Th... That should be... far enough... I think..." said a fatigued Garry.

Garry then stood up straighter and proudly yelled out, "We certainly showed THEM!" Harry chuckled in amusement at that statement as he plopped down onto the hard floor, tired.

"My... well then..." said Garry, still trying to catch his breath. "Let's keep go... ...Harry?"

Noticing Harry's position, he went over to Harry and knelt down beside him. "Oh my, what is it? Are you okay?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Harry opened his mouth to respond but was unable to as he collapsed onto the ground, utterly exhausted. He faintly heard the sound of Garry's voice as he fell into darkness.

"H-Harry?! Stay with me, now! Harry! HARRY!"


	6. Chapter 6 - Safe Room

_**Chapter 6 – Safe Room**_

**AN:**

**Oni: *Sadly stabs a cake with her fork* **

**Garry: What wrong Oni?**

**Oni: *Looks up at him***

**Garry: *Notices a glint in her eye, an eye that is blue***

**Garry: You're… not… Oni…**

**Oni?: *Takes disguise off to reveal Mary***

**Mary: GIVE ME YOUR ROSE!**

**Harry: *pops head in***

**Harry* Oni does not own Harry Potter, Ib, or the first ten chapters, just tidbits that she's put in here and there. Now if you excuse me, I have to go save a friend.**

* * *

_Breathing hard, Harry continued on, fear pumping through his veins. The banging of the door echoed as he walked backwards. As he searched for a way out, his eyes fell onto a door. Running through, he continued going through identical rooms. Room after room, endlessly searching. He reached out to another door and turned its handle like all the ones before it. However, this door would not open. Harry heart pumped all the faster as he heard the heavy, pounding footsteps echoing from behind him._

_Harry was too terrified to speak. His mind wracked with terror and fear. 'Please, oh please, open up! Oh no, please god, Merlin please...' he kept thinking, over and over again. The doorknob just wouldn't twist. The footsteps drew nearer and Harry began to get even more desperate. He willed with all his heart to escape. There, a sound came from behind him. Turning around, he discovered that the door was opened. _

_He gratefully ran through._

_What he saw made him cry out. Tears streamed down his face as he shook his head side to side. Why...? Why did this have to happen to him? His heart sunk and his legs collapsed from underneath him. He was surrounded by a Lady in Red, a headless statue, and a mannequin head. With one last surge of bravery he looked back up at his enemies. Suddenly, the figures warped and turned into something else. They all turned into people he knew: Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Uncle Vernon. The figures moved in and Harry screwed his eyes shut._

_"...Help... Someone... Please... Garry, where are you...? ... _**GARRY!**_"_

* * *

Harry sat up, his hand over his mouth. Breathing heavily, his senses slowly returned. It was a nightmare.

He had a nightmare. Harry slowly took his hand away from his mouth and felt slightly relieved. It had become a habit of his to cover his mouth when he had a nightmare, a habit he earned from living with the Dursley's, after all, if he woke up his relatives in the middle of the night from a nightmare, instead of being comforted, he would be punished for ruining their "beauty sleep". Glancing around the room, he took in his surroundings. He was in a small room with a few bookshelves and a large painting. Harry was currently lying on the ground with a nice warm blanket on top of him. The blanket, Harry realized, wasn't a blanket at all; it was a navy blue tattered jacket. It was Garry's jacket. Looking up, Harry guessed that the older teen must have heard him wake up.

"... Ah," Garry said as he walked out from behind a bookshelf, setting down a book that he had been reading. "Morning, Harry. How are you feeling?" Garry went over to him and kneeled down to look Harry in the eyes.

Harry turned his gaze down to his lap. "I... I had a nightmare..."

Glancing upward shyly, Harry saw Garry's face immediately change to one of concern. "I see... You poor thing... I can't say I'm surprised... Being exposed to such frightful sights... you know?"

"I guess it's good you woke up," Garry told him. Garry then looked a little ashamed and said, "I'm sorry I didn't notice earlier..."

Harry looked back down. He wanted to tell Garry that it was all fine, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. There was a lump in his throat it seemed.

Garry thought deeply before his expression brightened a little. "... Harry, would you take a look in the pocket of that coat?" Confused, Harry reached inside one of the pockets and felt his hand brush against something hard and round. Pulling it out, Harry glanced into his hand and looked at the object. It was a piece of candy. A lemon drop to be exact. The familiar looking candy eased his nerves a bit just by looking at it.

Shocked, Harry looked up at Garry. Garry was smiling at him.

"You can have that. Feel free to eat it."

Harry's eyes filled up with many different emotions; shock, happiness, sadness, wonder.

"... G-Garry... I..." Harry began, not knowing what to say. "... T-thank you, Garry..."

Garry's smile only widened. "No problem. Let's rest a while longer before we set out again." With that, Garry got up, turned, and went over to the bookshelves. Harry pulled himself up and picked up Garry's coat. He wrapped the large coat around his shoulders and went up to look the painting. It was called "Untitled". Harry couldn't make out what it was supposed to be. A notice on the wall read, "Rules of the Art Gallery." "No loud conversation, No photography, No food or drink, No touching the displays, No fountain pens, No leaving ever." The last one made Harry feel trapped. But when he looked over at Garry, he felt that maybe being trapped with the older teen wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Looking at the books lining the bookshelves, he pulled out a book called "Fun Pictures" that had a lot of drawings in it. Harry put the book back. It was only a waste of time to look at the pointless drawings.

Looking over, Harry saw a vase sitting on top of a table. He quickly headed over to it and took out his rose. Staring down at it, Harry realized that he had been hit much more than he originally thought; there was only two petals left. Putting the rose in the vase, the beautiful white rose grew back five petals and

Harry felt greatly refreshed.

Harry took off Garry's coat and headed over to the teen.

"Here. You can have your coat back."

"Oh, my coat... Thanks, Harry," Garry said with a nod of thanks. He took the ragged coat and slid it back on.

Unable to stop himself, Harry spoke. "Garry... Your coat is all torn and ragged..."

"Hm? My coat's all torn and ragged?" Garry flashed him a smile and whimsically said, "No, no, that's on purpose! That's just the design!" His expression turned serious again and he said, "... Though to be sure, I have been wearing it for many years now as well..."

Harry chuckled in response. "How long have you had it?"

Garry thought back deeply and responded, "I've had this coat for three years at least..."

"Hey, Harry. Not to be rude but... Your clothes," Garry hesitantly pointed out. "... Your clothes look too

big and seem old..."

Harry sighed softly; he should have seen this coming. However, Harry trusted Garry enough to tell him the truth.

"Well... My relatives don't like me very much and they don't like spending any money on me, so they give me my cousin's old clothes."

Garry's expression darkened. "Just because they don't like you doesn't mean they can just give you hand-me-downs... Harry how much money do they have?"

Confused, Harry replied, "I'm not exactly sure, but they have enough money to buy my cousin about thirty presents each year for his birthday..."

Garry looked shocked before his expression darkened once more. "They definitely have more than enough to buy you clothes..."

Garry shook his head before speaking once more, changing the subject. "Oh, Harry. How old are you?"

"I just turned thirteen a few days ago."

"... Thirteen? Wow, you look much younger than thirteen, the height I guess." Garry said with astonishment.

Harry just shrugged. He was rather small and his clothes didn't help. It only made sense that Garry would think that he is younger than he really is.

"Hey, Garry. How old are you?

"I'm sixteen."

This time it was Harry who was astonished. "Really? Wow, you look older than sixteen. I thought you were eighteen or nineteen."

Garry chuckled. "I think the height factors in once more."

"Well, you are really tall..."

Garry's lips turned up into a grin. "That, or you are just really short." Harry rolled his eyes at that but didn't try to argue, he was pretty short after all. It was a fact.

"Now that I think about it, you were traveling alone until you met me," Garry said as he went over to Harry and patted him on the back. "That's nothing to sneeze at. I mean it, that's brave." 'I... I guess I was brave...' Harry thought.

Noting Harry's condition, Garry asked, "Harry, can you walk? If you're tired, make sure to tell me right away, okay? Don't be shy about it! I'll completely understand!" Harry nodded. He felt like he could truly trust Garry. Garry was his friend, maybe even his best friend. Yet Harry felt a connection to the older teen that was different from friend, stronger than friendship. He didn't say anything about it though.

Garry's expression turned to one of guilt as he said, "I was so focused on getting out of here... I didn't really look out for you. Sorry, Harry."

"It's alright. We both want to get out of here so it only makes sense. From now on, let's look after each other and make it out of here!" Harry assured him, smiling. Garry smiled back. They were going to get out of here and they were going to do it together.

Garry's smile turned into a frown as he turned to Harry and asked, "Harry, do you remember how you got here from the gallery? I'm having trouble remembering exactly..." He scratched his head and continued. "I was about to leave... But then I looked around, and didn't see a soul... I panicked when I saw the entrance locked, but found stairs where there had been a wall... Then I was in a red passageway... ... You know the rest." Harry was reminded of his own experience and how he dove into the depths of the fish painting. He also remembered finding Garry lying on the ground. Thank Merlin Harry had found him.

Garry sighed and said, "... I got up early today, so I'm feeling a bit sleepy now. I was looking forward to going to a gallery... and then this." Yawning exasperatedly, he said, "Honestly, I think I've had enough of art galleries at this point..."

Harry nodded in agreement, "Me too. I was excited about going to an art gallery, but now..." He sighed. "I don't think I'll ever be able to go to an art gallery again..."

To lighten up the situation, Garry made a joke. "Ah, I'm a little thirsty... Think I should drink from the vase?" When Harry kept his expression serious, he quietly said, "... I'm just kidding." At least Garry tried to humor him.

Harry felt really guilty. Garry was only trying to lighten the situation and instead, Harry had been rude to him.

"... Sorry for troubling you, Garry. I'll try not to be such a burden..."

"Harry, you are NOT a burden, don't ever think you are. I don't know who told you that you are one, but whoever they are, they're wrong. You will never be a burden." Garry said with a little sternness. Garry turned around and said, "I mean, no one could have predicted that things would end up like this." He turned back to Harry and said with a happy disposition, "Come on, be cheery! It's a disservice to your cute face to do anything else." Harry laughed a little and his face turned a bright red.

Garry turned around the room and said, "This place... It must be connected to the art gallery, don't you think? I wonder where everyone else in the gallery went..." He seemed a little hopeful when he suggested, "For all we know, there might be others lost in this place. If there are, I hope we can find each other..."

Harry smiled. "If there is anyone else here, we WILL find them. I just know that we will."

Garry grinned, "Yeah, we will." Then his face turned serious again. "Harry... You're British, right?"

Harry nodded, confused. "Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Well, I'm just wondering why you came to the gallery, we are in America after all."

Harry swallowed hard as he remembered what had happened.

_~~~Flashback~~~_

_Harry ran from the house, carrying his trunk with him. He needed to escape. He had just blown up Aunt Marge like she was a balloon. Sure, it was accidental magic but his relatives didn't care about that. If he didn't escape then who knows what would happen. Suddenly, Uncle Vernon came out of the house and grabbed Harry by the arm, he pulled Harry into the house, shut the front door, and threw Harry to the ground. Hard. Before Harry could do anything, he was kicked in the stomach. Harry cried out in pain as he was repeatedly kicked and punched. He curled up in the fetal position trying desperately to protect himself. Finally, Harry allowed himself to fall into darkness._

_When Harry awoke, he felt pain everywhere. He was in a cramped space, his old cupboard, he remembered. A rapping sound on the door caught his attention. The door swung open to reveal Aunt Petunia._

"_Boy. The freaks had to come to return Marge back to normal after you used your freakiness."_

"_..I didn't try t-"_

"_Be quiet, Boy." The sound of a slap resounded._

"_Yes, Aunt Petunia."_

"_Good. Now go make breakfast."_

_Scurrying, Harry got up and ignored the pain in his limbs. He went into the kitchen and prepared breakfast. When he was done, he set up the plates and glasses and filled each one. His relatives came down, forced him upstairs, and locked him into his room. Harry sighed and nibbled on a piece of toast he was able to sneak up with him. When he was finished, he changed into a new set of clothes, laid down onto his small bed, and rested._

_He awoke to a load knock on his door and the sound of multiple locks being unlocked. The door opened._

"_Get up, Freak. Get packed and get downstairs, now." The door closed._

_When the door closed, Harry began to pack his clothes into a small suitcase. A tapping sound on the window caught his attention. It was an owl._

_Harry practically flew to the window as soon as he saw it. He hoped it was from one of his friends. Sure enough, the owl was carrying a package and a letter. He didn't recognize the owl, but he didn't care. He opened the window, let the owl in, and took out an owl treat. The owl immediately gobbled it up._

_Harry removed the package and letter. He opened the letter first._

_The letter was written in a messy scrawl._

_**Dear Harry,**_

_**You don't know me, but I just wanted to tell you Happy Birthday and give you something. It was made only a few months after your birth by your mother.**_

_**Take good care of it.**_

_**-Padfoot**_

_He was confused. Who was "Padfoot" and why would Padfoot give him something. Was the package really something made by his mum?_

_He cautiously opened the package and gasped at what he saw._

_It was a white handkerchief made out of lace. In the corner, written in elegant, golden script was _Harry_._

_Shocked, Harry stared at the handkerchief. Quickly, he put it into his pocket and wrote on the back of the letter._

_**Thank you, Padfoot.**_

_**-Harry**_

_He tied the letter to the owl._

"_Take this to Padfoot."_

_The scrawny owl nodded its head and flew off into the sky._

_**~~~THIS IS A LINE INSIDE A FLASHBACK~~~**_

_When he was finished packing, Harry went down stairs to see his relatives all standing by the door, suitcases in hand._

"_... What's going on? Where are we going?" Harry asked hesitantly._

"_We're going to America for vacation. Nobody can watch you, so we're forced to take you with us, freak." Dudley answered._

_They all put their suitcases into the car and left to go to the airport. After a long, quiet drive, they arrived at the airport._

_They waited for almost an hour until their plane arrived. They went inside and settled into their seats. _

_The plane soon set off._

_Later, they arrived at their destination, drove to the hotel inside a rent car, and entered their room. It was a large room with beautiful furniture. There were only two beds, however._

"_You're sleeping on the couch, Boy." was the only response he received when he asked about it._

_The couch wasn't that bad, a little small and uncomfortable, but Harry knew better than to complain._

_For the next few days, he and his relatives went to different places. The whole vacation was wonderful in Harry's eyes. The places were beautiful, the people were nice, and Harry felt more at home than ever._

_Each day his relatives would tell him where they would be going. On the last day of their trip, Aunt Petunia said they were going to a museum._

"_What kind of museum?" Harry asked, curious to see what would be displayed._

"_An art museum. Now be quiet, Boy." His Aunt answered._

_It took all of the control he had to not bounce around. He was excited. He had always loved looking at art, especially the paintings in Hogwarts._

_When the clock finally turned to one o'clock, they went into the rent car and drove to the gallery._

_The trip was a quiet one. They drove by countless buildings until finally, they arrived at the gallery._

_Harry was shocked at the size and beauty of the building. The building seemed to be made of marble, there were windows here and there, and the building was completely white. The building held an elegant feel to it and many people entering wore expensive clothing._

_Harry was ecstatic to be going to such a beautiful place. He walked behind his relatives as they went inside. His hand was in his pocket, touching the handkerchief._

_~~~End of Flashback~~~_

"I came to the gallery with my relatives. We had gone here for a vacation."

Garry nodded. "That makes sense."

"What about you? Why did you come here?"

Garry chuckled, "Well I came here alone. I had come to the gallery because, well, I inherited it." Harry looked at the older teen in shock.

"You INHERITED this place? How?" Garry shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea. The… bankers… said that Weiss Guertena was my ancestor, and had placed certain restrictions on his possessions so that only a descendant with ma- matched the criteria, could gain it. This Gallery was one of those things."

Harry caught Garry's stumble with his words.

It was evident that the older teen was covering up something, but what could be so important that Garry had to hide it from him? Was he not trustworthy? Harry frowned at the thought. Garry seemed to take his words the wrong way.

"But I've always been fascinated with art. It's interesting to see what ideas artists can come up with."

Harry smiled, pushed the negative thoughts to the back of his mind. He might find out later what Garry was talking about but right now it was best to stay cheerful in a place like this, even if Garry DID own the place.

"It is quite interesting. I've always wanted to go to a gallery."

"Same here. I've gone to museums before, but they're always different which is why I never get tired of going."

Harry hummed in response. He then turned and went to the door. Strangely, he didn't feel so scared

anymore. Harry guessed it was because of Garry. Because he knew that Garry would be there for him.

Sure, Garry gets startled easily, but Harry knew in his heart, Garry would never leave him to be claimed by Guertena's art.

"Harry, are you ready to set out again?" Garry asked.

"I'm ready."

Garry smiled and said, "Okay! Let's get going, then!"

And with that, they set off on their next adventure.


	7. Chapter 7 - Statues and Darkness

_**Chapter 7 – Statues and Darkness**_

**AN:**

**Oni: Blah blah blah blah I do not own Harry Potter or Ib or the first ten chapters blah blah blah blah blah I only own the small tidbits of details and new information to fit the path in the story that I am going to take blah de blah blah blah aaaaaaaaand done! On with the story!**

* * *

They left the room and Harry looked to the paintings he had seen before fainting. They were very eerie.

They were of the vampire man. The first one was "normal". The next one showed the man starting to bleed from his eyes. The third and fourth portraits had blood trickling down his face, while a demented smile grew wider. However, the last portrait was just like the first one: "normal". "How odd..." Harry murmured. Garry and him turned and left the area, heading down a staircase.

The change in the atmosphere was immediate. The walls changed from gray to violet. As they walked down the hall, they heard a knocking sound from their left. Someone or something was knocking on a door. Hesitantly, they crept their way over to the door to investigate. The door was locked.

Harry looked at the door and noticed a peephole. Cautiously, he peered inside.

Nothing. Pitch black. He couldn't see a thing.

"There's nothing in there from what I can see," Harry told his companion.

Garry sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Let's keep going then."

They continued walking down the hall, noting a lone light bulb above them.

They came to a larger area and saw what appeared to be a rope maze. There were a few headless statues in the maze. Fortunately, the statues were not moving. They decided to check it out.

When they ventured inside, a pole shot straight out of the ground behind them. They were trapped inside.

"T-The exit's locked?!" Garry exclaimed.

One of the statues came to life and roared. It charged forward, heading straight to them. Quickly, Garry grabbed Harry's hand and ran. They frantically ran to the paintings at the top of the room.

The first one read, "Red Button." Harry pushed it. The headless statue in red came to life and rushed forward. Immediately, they ran off, dodging both of the statues. They came to a bookcase. Garry pulled out a book and opened it. The title was "Diary". "It said that spirits dwell in objects into which people put their feelings. I've always thought that, if that's true, then the same must be true of artwork. So today, I shall immerse myself in work, so as to impact my spirit into my creations." 'Perhaps this is what Guertena did to make his art come to life,' Harry thought, reading the diary from next to Garry. 'Kind of reminds me of that diary of Voldemort's young self...'

Garry's face displayed disgust. "Is that really all it says...? You could have said something about the exit!"

Garry turned to him. "Let's get out of here, Harry!"

They ran forward to the painting above them, neither of them realizing that their hands were connected.

The painting was called, "Green Button." Looking around, they didn't see any statues in green. Garry pressed the button.

The headless statue in blue right next to Harry lashed out and clawed him in the shoulder. Garry quickly hurried Harry away.

"Are you okay?" Garry asked, concerned.

Harry pulled his hand out of Garry's grasp and rubbed his bleeding shoulder. "I'm fine. We'll just have to find a vase and heal my rose."

Garry nodded, but his eyes still shone with concern. "Let's get out of here, quickly then."

Garry held his hand once more as they went to the remaining painting. "Blue Button," it was called. They screwed their eyes closed as they both pushed the button. There was a clicking sound.

"The exit!" Garry yelled. They ran as quickly as they could and escaped the rope maze. A pole shot out from behind them, shutting the maze.

Now that they were out, Harry took notice to their connected hands. His cheeks went red, but he didn't pull his hand away. Honestly, it felt really nice to be holding hands with someone. He never held anyone's hand before, so it was a weird but reassuring felling. He turned away and emulated Garry's calm and collected behavior. They continued on.

At the end of the hall was a painting, "Milk Puzzle". It showed a completely white puzzle.

Garry stared at the painting, then turned to him and asked, "Harry, have you heard of milk puzzles?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I haven't."

Garry smiled as he explained, "Well, as the name implies, it's a puzzle where all the pieces are white like milk. Since there's no picture on them, they're much harder than regular puzzles."

Harry looked at the puzzle and could tell that Garry was right; they seemed to be much, much harder than regular puzzles. All the puzzle pieces looked exactly the same to each other.

Garry continued, "Very smart people can finish them in no time at all, but..." Garry paused. "To be honest, they're not exciting. Since they don't even make a picture in the end..."

Garry smile widened as he told him, "It feels much more worth it to do a puzzle of a picture you like."

Harry nodded. "Yeah... It would be boring and most likely frustrating to try and put together a milk puzzle."

The two of them continued down the hall and came to another painting.

The painting was called, "Fleeting Thoughts on a Moonlit Night." It was really pretty. It looked like pink cherry blossoms falling from a tree at night. Seeing nothing of worth, they left the area.

In the next room, there was a mirror. They carefully walked up to it and stared at their reflections. Thankfully, nothing creepy appeared this time.

The door at the end of the hall was locked. Garry noticed something and said, "What's the story with this panel here...? Can we put something in?" Garry thought for a moment then continued, "... I'm not getting any ideas. Let's look around some more." There was another door near them, so Harry reached out and turned the knob. It was unlocked.

When they entered, they were met with a headless statue. It didn't move though.

"Well, after you then." Garry said with a small smirk.

"Huh?" Harry asked confused. What was Garry getting at?

"You said that you couldn't move the statues so let's see if you really can't." Garry responded, grinning.

Harry looked at the elder teen in shock. "You really remember that? I can NOT move THAT!"

Garry chuckled. "That's what we're testing."

Harry sighed. "... You've been looking forward to this, haven't you?"

Garry laughed, "Yep." He grinned. "Go on then."

Harry walked forward and stretched. "Fine. I'll attempt to move this million ton statue..." He went up to it and pushed. The statue didn't even budge. Garry put his hand over his mouth to hide his laughter as he watched Harry trying to move the statue.

Harry tried shoving the statue, pulling the statue, yanking the statue, he even tried to _kick _the statue, but nothing worked. The statue would just not move.

At this time, Garry gave up trying to hide his laughter. "Shut up, Garry. YOU try to move it." Harry growled.

Garry, still chuckling, went up to the statue. He stepped to the side of it and began to push, "Hrrr..." He heaved and it moved. Garry wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Whew. Now that's how you do it, Harry. You must be kinder to the statues, or else they won't move."

Harry rolled his eyes. "And how was I not being kind enough to the statues, Oh Wise One?" Harry said, sarcasm practically dripping off of him.

Garry chuckled, a grin on his face. "You must ask the statue for forgiveness..."

Harry laughed. "Yes, of course. Thank you, Oh Wise One." He went over to the statue and kneeled, grabbing one of its unmoving hands. "Oh please, forgive me... I have been a naughty child. I beg for your forgiveness..." He begged the statue dramatically. He then got up and turned to Garry. They stared at each other. Suddenly, in unison, they both doubled over, their laughter echoing around them.

"... That... was... **perfect**!" Garry exclaimed, gasping for breath.

"...I... know... that's... why I... did it..." Harry responded, gasping for breath as well.

Still snickering a little, they both looked around the room. The statue was out-of-the-way of the door.

The same door they had heard the knocking from. There was nothing in the room that could have done it, however. The only thing they could do was investigate a cord casually hanging from the ceiling.

They went up to the cord and Harry pulled it. Nothing happened from what they could tell, so they left through the exit. Back where they were before, underneath the lone light bulb was a message written in violet paint. It read, "What is the title of the large floor painting in Guertena's exhibition?"

Garry scratched his head and said, "Gah... Could it be a password? The big fish painting, right? Did you see it, Harry?" Harry nodded. Garry went into deep thought. "But what was it... I think it was... Something of the deep...? It was just one word..."

Garry turned to him. "Harry, can you remember it? Of the deep... what of the deep...?" Harry thought back and tried to remember the fish painting.

"... Of the deep... Something of the deep... Abyss of the deep... Abyss! The title was 'Abyss of the Deep'!" Harry exclaimed.

Garry grinned. "Yes, that was it, Harry! 'Abyss of the Deep'! … Did you read the title?"

"I did more than that, I remembered it." Harry replied, grinning happily.

Garry chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Okay, let's remember that." Garry reiterated one more time, "Abyss of the Deep'!" With that, they hurried back to the locked door.

Investigating the panel at the door, Garry said, "... Ah! This must be what the password was for! Let's try it... 'Abyss of the Deep'..." There was a click, and the door was unlocked. They glanced at each other and went through.

Inside the room were a few bookshelves and a single large painting. The bookshelf on the far left had a book with some words Harry didn't know. He pulled out the book and tried reading it, "?" "? by the ?, I ? my finger over her beautiful ?... With her ? She..." Garry took the book from him and inspected it.

Whatever Garry read caused his cheeks to go a bright red as he slammed the book shut and quickly put it back on the bookshelf.

"What was the book talking about?" Harry asked, confused. "Do you know what the book was about?"

Cheeks still bright red, Garry told him, "... You shouldn't read that kind of stuff until you get older." Harry sighed, but nodded. He guessed it was a thing for adults or something.

The bookshelf on the right side of the room had a book sticking out. Harry pulled it out and read, "The women here... Like playing 'Loves me, Loves me not.'" Harry thought back to the lady plucking the petals off Garry's rose, one by one, muttering...

Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. He didn't want to think of _that_. It was a scary thought. He walked with Garry over to the painting, "Separation". The painting looked bloody and dark. Harry felt a feeling of fear in his gut. 'What if I got separated from Garry,' he thought. 'Then I'd be all alone...'

Garry stared at the painting and remarked, "What an off-putting painting..."

The lights suddenly went out. The room fell into a kind of darkness that swallowed them whole.

"Wh-What?! The lights?!" Garry yelled. "It's too dark to see...! H-Harry! Are you there?!"

Harry felt like he couldn't breathe. He felt as if the darkness was choking him, strangling the very last breath out of him. With all of the spirit and courage he had, he yelled out, "I-I'm here!"

Harry heard a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear... Stay right there, all right?" He wasn't moving anywhere. He felt way too scared to move at all.

"But, this is a problem..." thought Garry aloud. As if a light flashed in his mind, Garry said, "Ah, that's right. I forgot I had a lighter." A clicking noise was heard, but Harry saw no light. Harry only heard a moan, a soft scream. Then the lights were back on.

What Harry saw next made his eyes widen and his heart beat intermittently. There was writing all over the walls, graffitied in different colors. Looking around slowly, Harry saw that they read, "**HELP NO DON'T KILL ME STOP DON'T**" The title of the painting had also changed to "**S T O P**".

"... Huh?" said Garry as he pocketed his lighter. He looked over and saw Harry. Walking over, he looked around the room. "Wh... What is THIS...?!" Garry walked forward a few steps. "... I don't think this is... good for my mental health..." Harry walked over and patted the elder's shoulder. Garry looked to him and smiled softly.

"Thank you, Harry."

"No problem. I'm doing as I said I would; watching after you."

Garry chuckled and grabbed his hand. "Let's get out of this room or else I'll go insane."

When they left, there was a notice on the wall painted in neat red letters. It read, "A notice to all visitors. There is a strict ban on fire-starting implements in the gallery. We request that you report the use of any matches, lighters, or the like. Should the use of such implements be reported to the staff," It appeared that the rest of the notice went down to the other rooms, but it abruptly ended like that.

"... That's a little... creepy..." Garry said hesitantly.

"Yeah... We should get going..."

They quickly walked back to the milk puzzle area, still hand in hand, when they noticed a pair of footsteps. Red footsteps. They led to a hidden passageway that they hadn't seen before. Anxiously, they followed the footsteps in.

* * *

**AN: A little omake for laughter to all you pretties reading this story**

Inside the room were a few bookshelves and a single large painting. The bookshelf on the far left had a book with some words Harry didn't know. He pulled out the book and tried reading it, "?" "? by the ?, I ? my finger over her beautiful ?... With her ? She..." Garry took the book from him and inspected it.

Whatever Garry read caused his cheeks to go a bright red as he slammed the book shut and quickly put it back on the bookshelf.

"What was the book talking about?" Harry asked, confused. "Do you know what the book was about?"

Cheeks still bright red, Garry told him, "... You shouldn't read that kind of stuff until you get older." Harry sighed, but nodded. He guessed it was a thing for adults or something.

When Harry turned around, Garry spun on his heels and grabbed the book. Fishing his lighter from his pocket he proceeded to ignite the offending erotica novel. He then dropped the burning book behind the shelf, Harry none the wiser.

Turning to Harry, Garry's only thought was 'What kind of sick pervert was Guertena to put a porn novel in his own art gallery?'

Within the walls of the Gallery, Guertena paled. He just KNEW that damn 'best friend' of his would leave pornography somewhere in his gallery.

Weiss carded a hand through his purple hair, sapphire eyes glowing with embarrassment.

"Great, now he thinks I'm a PERVERT. "

He then floats further into the walls, muttering. If one listened close enough, they would be able to hear "Dammit Prince!"


	8. Chapter 8 - Meeting the Yellow Rose

_**Chapter 8 – Meeting the Yellow Rose**_

**AN:**

**Oni: Woooo! Mary is formally introduced in this chapter! Okay I know I didn't write the encounter but still WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO. To be honest she wasn't my favorite character but my heart goes out to the poor girl. Speaking of which…**

**Mary: Oni does not own meeeee or Harryyyyyyyyyy or Garryyyyyyyy or this storyyyyyy up to chapter ten! Buuuuuuut she doooooooes own some details in the storyyy Teeheehee!**

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As they entered, a yellow blur ran into Harry. Harry was startled at the sudden force, so he pushed it away. Looking down, he was shocked to see a young blonde haired girl lying there.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked worriedly as he approached the girl.

The younger girl stared up at him with wide blue eyes. She got up and backed away from him.

"Ah! Wait!" Garry called out to the girl. Garry slowly walked over to the young girl. "Hey, are you... Could you be one of the visitors to the gallery?"

The girl looked at Garry, eyes still wide as she said, "Y-yeah, I am..."

"As I thought..." Garry murmured. "I am Garry." He said, introducing himself.

Harry slowly walked out from behind Garry and stood by his side. "... I'm Harry."

The girl, still looking shocked, was quiet. She could only stare at them. Garry continued to explain their story, "We were in the art gallery, but then somehow found ourselves lost in this place... So now we're both trying to find a way out. Presumably, you're doing the same?"

The girl looked sad as she said, "I... I was looking to see if there was anyone else too... I wanted to get out... So I..." Before the girl could finish, Garry interrupted her and joyously invited her, "Ah, I knew it! Well, would you like to come with us?"

"Huh...?" was her reply, a quizzical expression on her face. Garry explained, "It's dangerous to be alone here. There are lots of strange creatures around." He asked her again, "So will you come with us? I think it would be best if we all stay together."

The girl's expression brightened. "Yeah! I'll come...!" Garry smiled and said, "Then it's decided! Oh, what's your name?"

The girl stared at them for a bit before slowly responding, "Mary..." Garry, not bothered by this, replied, "Mary, then! Nice to meet you!" She answered with a simple, "... Yeah!"

Shyly, Mary walked over to Harry. "Um... Nice to meet you, Harry..." Garry had been so mature and courteous with this stranger, so Harry remembered his manners. "Nice to meet you too, Mary."

The girl giggled. "Teehee... Thanks!"

Garry turned to the both of them, "All right! Now that we have more company, we can proceed with our spirits high!" Mary smiled cheerfully and exclaimed, "Yay!" She reached out and grabbed Harry's hand,

pulling him forward. Harry chuckled at the girl's antics before reaching out and grabbing Garry's hand.

Together, they walked down the hall, a little more vigor in their step. They all felt ready to face the challenges ahead. Garry certainly felt a little more comfortable with someone else to walk beside with.

Mary looked happy to have found company. Harry felt... Well, he guessed that it was nice to have more company. However, something just felt... _off_. The girl oozed some kind of aura, but again for many times that day, what it reminded him of was very elusive.

Suddenly, Garry stopped, stopping the rest of them. "Harry, there's a vase the other way. You should heal your rose." Harry smiled softly. "Okay. Thanks, Garry."

They went over to the vase and placed both their roses in. A new white petal grew back on Harry's rose and two blue petals grew back on Garry's.

"When did you get hurt, Garry?" Harry asked.

Garry rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Well, when we were being chased by all of the painting women and statues, I was hit by a few of them. In the safe room, I was worrying about other issues at hand, so I kind of forgot to heal."

Harry's eyes narrowed at Garry's explanation. It seemed that Garry was becoming careless; he was worrying about other issues more than his own health. Harry's mouth opened.

"Say... Seeing as Harry and I both have roses..." Garry started, hoping to escape the lecture that he knew was about to come. "Mary, do you have a rose as well?" Harry glared at the older teen and sent him a look clearly saying: "_I will lecture you later. You will not escape your fate_." Garry gulped.

Mary reached into her pocket, not noticing the exchange. She pulled out a pretty, bright rose. "... Yeah, I do! A yellow rose!"

Garry suddenly smiled. "Ah, it's true!" His expression turned serious as he warned them, "You two keep those safe. Don't you dare lose it. And don't give it to anyone. And..." Garry stopped his own lecture to see if they were listening.

It seemed Mary was preoccupied with something else. "Wooow, Harry's rose is whiiiite! My rose is yellooow!" She put her rose away and said, "I like yellow, but I also like pink. Oh, and blue!"

Garry looked annoyed as he shook his head back and forth. "... Learn to listen, would you?" Harry snickered under his breath.

Mary smiled cheerfully. "Come on! Let's go!" She grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him down the hall. Garry was forced to jog to catch up with them.

Harry was honestly shocked at how the girl acted. What was her secret to happiness in such a dreary place? The only happiness Harry got was from being with Garry, so how could she have been so happy?

'Maybe she could teach me later...' Harry thought, grabbing Garry's hand once he had caught up with them. 'I've been alone with the Dursleys

for so long; it would be helpful if I learn how to be happy when I'm with them.'

In the next room, there was a notice on the wall. It read, "Which one could it be?" Another cryptic message. Only time could tell what it means. The trio continued on.

They came to a painting titled, "Flowers of Jealousy". The painting was devoid of anything related to flowers or even plants, it just looked like a simple maze with a red dot in the center.

There were two doors; right and left. They went over to the door on the right and Garry turned the knob.

"It's locked." Garry told them. They all went over to the door on the left side and entered.

Inside the room was a fairly odd surprise. Owls. Owls everywhere. Pink and white owls galore. A lone green owl ornament caught Harry's eye. Perhaps this was what the notice was referring to; the odd one out.

Before investigating the discolored owl, they checked out their surroundings. There were tables, stools, and some bookshelves. At the end of the room was a giant picture of a pink owl titled "Red Eyes". Garry finally had enough.

"... the love of..." he muttered. "This painting, this room... why must it be so unsettling?!"

Mary looked surprised. "Huh? Really...? I think it's cute..."

Garry was flabbergasted. "Wha...?! What about this is CUTE?!" Mary shrugged and replied, "I just think it is..." She turned to Harry. "What about Harry?"

Harry kind of agreed with Garry in all honestly; the staring red eyes of the owls were unsettling, but he lived with owls and even had a pet owl, so he couldn't exactly say that they weren't kind of cute. In his opinion, some owls were cute and even though the owl ornaments weren't really that cute, he didn't want to be rude to Mary.

"It's... cute." Harry said, a little hesitant.

Not noticing Harry's hesitance, her face lightened up. "I know, right?! It's so adorable!" Garry raised his arms in defeat. He sighed and said, "Enough of this... Let's just check the room and leave."

Garry took another look around the room. "I feel like I'm being watched in this room... Talk about unsettling."

They took a few steps when, suddenly, the green owl ornament fell and shattered into pieces. Carefully, they edged up to it and noticed something shiny amidst the shards. It was a key. Harry picked it up and they hurried out of the room.

As they were going through the hall, they heard a noise coming from "Flowers of Jealousy", so they stopped in front of it. Harry stood directly in front of it, Garry on his left and Mary on his right, the three of them all stared at it. Something was emerging from the canvas.

"Huh...? That sound's... getting closer..." Mary said quietly. The frame rumbled and shook violently. A thorny rose burst from the painting. Shooting up from right behind Harry were three thorny vines.

Garry gasped and Mary screamed, "Something came up from the ground!" The ground began to tremble, and Garry shouted, "T-This is bad! Get away from the painting!"

The ground began to crack from underneath Harry. Immediately, Mary screamed out, "Harry! Watch out!" Mary grabbed Harry's arm and yanked him away just as another thorny vine shot out of the ground.

With the worst of it over, Harry glanced around and realized that Garry wasn't with them. He and Mary approached the vines. "Are you two alright?!" Garry asked worriedly from the other side. Mary wrapped her arms around Harry and buried her head into his chest. "Ahhh... That scared me!"

Harry unconsciously stiffened before wrapping his arms around Mary, trying to comfort her. He was visibly shocked and thought about what had happened. If it hadn't been for Mary, he would have been seriously hurt. "Harry? Are you hurt?" Garry asked him.

"No... I'm alright, but I'm just... scared..." Harry admitted. Garry was on the other side and he wasn't with him. He just had to hope that he and Mary would find a way to return to their older companion.

A deep sigh of relief came from the other side. "It certainly was starting... But as long as you're not hurt." Garry reached out to the vines. "But with these... things in the way, I can't get over there... Maybe I can cut it down?"

Garry's hand connected to the vines and he felt them. "... Wait, what's this?" They were smooth, solid, and cold. "These vines are made of stone…! What to do..." He closed his eyes, concentrated on SOMETHING. What that something was Harry did not know, but Garry seemed a bit exasperated that whatever it was, it didn't work.

As Garry thought, Mary pulled away from the embrace and asked, "... Hey, Harry. You got a key in that room, right?" Harry felt his pocket to see if it was still there. Sure enough, cool to the touch, was the key.

"Maybe that key..." she started. Mary pointed to the door ahead of them. "Opens that door there?"

Harry looked at the door and stared at it. 'Perhaps so.' Harry thought.

"We might find something to get rid of these in another room. Should we go look?" Mary asked. Garry seemed a little worried as he heard her suggestion. "Hmm... well... I wonder if you'll be okay..." he mumbled.

Mary turned her bright blue eyes to Harry and said, "We'll be fine! Right, Harry?" It was frightening to not have Garry with him, but nothing good would come out of staying here, stuck between stone vines.

Harry swallowed his fear and cleared his mind. At least he had Mary with him.

"I think we'll be fine..." Harry muttered.

"See, Harry thinks we'll be fine!" Mary said happily. Garry sounded a little sad as he mumbled, "M-My … Is that so..." Garry stood up straighter and said, "Well, I guess it's worth a try..."

Garry turned serious. "But if you don't find anything, make sure you come straight back, okay? Then we'll rethink about what we can do."

Mary nodded. "Yeah! Got it!" She turned to Harry. "Okay, let's go!"

Harry turned to the vines and waved, though Garry probably didn't see him. He hated being separated from others. He really hoped Mary and him would find something to reunite with Garry. Mary and him looked at each other, then stuck the key in to the lock. It fit and the door opened easily. They looked at each other again, took a deep breath, and ventured inward.


	9. Chapter 9 - Search

_**Chapter 9 - Search**_

**AN:**

**Oni: Okay this is when some more detail come to light that I have put in, PRETTY sure most of you will get the hint of these little tidbits. Anyway, I do not own Harry Potter or Ib or this story up to chapter ten. I do own some details of said story that I have put in.**

* * *

The room was pretty cramped. Boxes were scattered everywhere around the room as well as several statues, but they didn't move. When Mary and he investigated a statue, Mary commented on its strength. "Looks like this would break if you hit it..." she noted. She tried moving it but gave up. "... Way too heavy to move, though."

The next thing they did was search through the boxes. One of them was filled with yellowed paper, another with various kind of paint, yet another filled with worn paintbrushes.

Walking throughout the room, Mary saw a stool and sat down on it, looking a little exhausted. 'I guess she's pretty tired,' Harry thought.

"I'd like to take this stool, but..." she started. She lifted herself off the stool and grabbed it. She tugged as hard as she could, but it didn't even budge. "It looks like it's stuck to the ground." She shrugged her shoulders and they moved on.

There was an easel with a sketch of some strange drawing on the canvas. Neither of them could make out what it was. Mary went over to one of the boxes in the back of the room. "Hmm... Is there anything useful in here?" She muttered, searching through the box. "... Ah!" Mary exclaimed, pulling an object from the box. It was a small palette knife.

She turned to Harry and asked, "Maybe this can cut the vines?!"

"I don't think it could. Those vines are made of stone after all, I doubt a palette knife could cut through them." Harry told the girl.

"You're right... Nah, it wouldn't work..." She said. She looked at the palette knife she was clutching in her hand. She stared at it. "But I think I'll hold on to this..."

She turned to him and in a mysterious manner said, "You know, just in case..." Harry felt a little weirded out, but if it made Mary feel safer, he'd put up with it. Although, he wondered if he was doing the right thing by allowing her to keep the knife. Sure, it was a small, flimsy knife, but it was still a knife. He mentally shook his head and put his thoughts aside. He could think matters through more deeply at a later time.

They continued searching through countless boxes, but found nothing they could use, other than the palette knife, of course. "Hmm... I don't really see anything useful. Should we go back to Garry for now?" Mary asked him. As Harry opened his mouth to respond, the lights flickered. "Wahhh! Huh?!" yelled Mary.

The lights flickered on and off again, and then stopped. "That scared me..." Mary whined, gripping onto Harry's arm. The lights flickering didn't really scare Harry, he was used to it by now. What actually bothered him was the statue that they had seen when they first came in had now moved and blocked the exit.

"Mary... The exit's blocked..." Harry slowly said.

"Huh? The exit... Wh-When did that move? Wasn't it just against the wall?" With a scared tone in her voice, she commanded, "Move it, Harry!"

They walked over to the statue and got ready to move it. "Ready? Heeeave...!" Even with their combined strength, the statue was still too heavy for them to move. Panting, Mary turned to him and said, "... no good... It won't even budge..." 'Why do things like this always have to happen to me?' Harry thought. 'First I'm forced to confront the man who killed my parents in first year! Then, in second year, I'm forced to fight a bloody basilisk. And now this! Will I ever get a break?!'

"What do we do, Harry...? We can't get out..." asked Mary.

"Well I guess the best thing we can do would be to look for clues or something..." He told her. With that, the two of them began searching through more boxes. When he checked out the box with yellowing paper, it was wet for some strange reason, the box with the various art tools smelled moldy, and even the box with the brushes was different; the brushes were made of real hair. When he checked the last box filled with paint, he discovered that the red paint was gone.

Having done as much as they could in this room, the duo was ready to leave. "Not much we can do but go this way, Harry!" Mary said, pointing at the unblocked door in front of them. They headed through.

The lights were already flickering on and off in the new hallway they were in. A steady rhythm of light and darkness. As they walked up, they heard something falling. It sounded like it was slowly rolling down some steps. Then there was a sound of something splattering.

They moved upward and saw two windows. A shadow of someone walked by the windows. The two of them tried to look through and see who it was, but whoever it was had left. As they walked away, whoever it was came back and banged on the window. This was enough to get them moving out of there.

At the end of the second set of stairs, there was something red splattered on the ground. They walked up another set of stairs. Waiting for them at the end was a single painting. It was "Clown". The painting appeared to be the face of a clown, accessorized with white makeup and a small tear.

Walking down the final path, they heard a splattering sound on the wall. Looking back, there were four messages on the wall written in brown paint.

_**I want you to have fun, Harry. **_

_**Come to a fun world where no one will ever harm you. **_

_**We'll be together, forever. **_

_**Just you, me, and our friends.**_

"Wha... What?!" Harry exclaimed, startled by the messages. "Who keeps writing these messages?" Mary simply shrugged in response before reaching out her hand. She took a hold of his hand and squeezed it in reassurance. Her hand was freezing cold, so very cold.

In silence, the two of them looked at each other and went through the next door. In the next room, there was a large gap in the floor. They couldn't cross it. On the other side were a box and a weird pentagon shaped object. Looking at the wall, there were five cords. A blinking green painting was under the fourth cord. Near where they came in was a blue rose drawing on the floor. They went over to it and sat down to think for a while. "I wonder what Garry's doing? We kind of left him behind..." Mary whispered. Harry sighed. "I wonder too..."

* * *

Garry was getting tired of waiting by the stone vines. He tapped his foot impatiently. "..." It was so quiet.

"...They're taking their time... I wonder if something happened?" he muttered. He walked around the vines and began to shout, "Harry! Mary! Can you hear me?!"

No response.

"No good..." he said, bringing his palm to his face. "Argh, I knew I shouldn't have let them go alone...! what to do..."

Garry tried to move the vines again. After all he had done so many times in the past, so why didn't it work now? He groaned, frustrated. Even if Harry and Mary had gone and he wouldn't get found out, he still couldn't move the vines. In fact, his lighter hadn't budged from its form either. There was something incredibly horrid about this Gallery, and this was just one of the many things that barred him from helping out his friends to out of this Mer- god forsaken place.

Garry looked around. The only place left to go was that god awful room. "... I suppose I'll investigate that room again. … As much as I hate to go back in there..."

He readied himself to re-enter the disturbing room full of dolls. He braced himself for the eerie sensation of being watched by those _THINGS_. He hesitantly entered.

The room still haunted him. Garry looked on at the disturbing dolls, each with tangled masses of black hair, piercing red eyes, disgusting blue skin, and demented smiles. There were dolls hanging by their necks from the ceiling... Garry shuddered as he looked at them.

He averted his eyes from the small dolls and looked at "Red Eyes". It was the most disturbing painting yet. The magnified face of a doll. Garry could feel it watching his every move. How could the others find this room as "CUTE"?

Looking away from "Red Eyes", he told himself, "... No matter how I look at it, this is NOT 'cute'."

Nothing seemed different from when he was last in there. Garry went to the left bookshelf and scanned the books. He pulled out one titled, "Ruin of the Heart". "If your spirit suffers too much, you will soon start to hallucinate... And in the end, you will be destroyed. And more worrying yet... Is that you won't even be conscious of that fact."

"Hallucinations? … Maybe Harry and Mary were hallucinating then... I doubt either of them would find these _THINGS_ as 'cute'. I wonder what they saw, after all, Harry did seem a little hesitant to say they were cute..." Garry pondered. "I'll ask them when I find them... Wherever they are..."

He went over to the bookcase on the right and browsed. Seeing nothing of note, he sighed. "Nothing of note here..." He then noticed something. There was a crack in the wall. "... Hm?" He tried to move the bookcase and it slid as he pushed it. "Ah, it moved! Why didn't I notice that earlier?"

Behind the bookshelf was a small hole in the wall. "Oh, well. I can go out this way."

'I guess there is some merit in visiting this horrid room after all..." Garry thought.

He crouched down and crawled through the small hole. He entered a much larger area. There was a violet message on the wall reading, "There is no exit. There is no reason." What a defeatist notion it was.

"No reason? There is a reason. My reason is that I must get to Harry and Mary before anything bad happens to them." Garry declared to himself. "I have to find a way to them before it's too late."

He walked over to the door adjacent to the message. The door was locked, of course.

Garry explored the room a bit more. There was a black triangular-shaped hole in the ground. He couldn't do anything with it, though. Around the back of the room were five cords. "How mysterious..." Garry murmured.

He decided to pull them from left to right. He pulled the first one. A black arm shot out from the left wall and hit him. "Ow..." He whined, rubbing his side. He pulled out his rose and watched as a single petal drifted down, leaving his rose at only eight petals. "I'll have to find a vase after this..." He mumbled, putting his rose back into his pocket.

Hesitantly, he pulled the second cord. A green mist flowed out from above him and assailed his lungs.

Hacking and coughing, Garry said, "What is this...?! How many more of these cords are going to be detrimental to my heath?!" He pulled out his rose once again and saw that it looked slightly wilted.

He stepped over to the third cord and cautiously gave it a tug. The lights went out. It was pitch black.

"You must be KIDDING me!" Garry yelled out to no one. "It switches off the power?!" Hurriedly, he pulled the rope again. The lights came back on. Garry breathed a sigh in relief. "Whew... Thank goodness... I thought it wouldn't come back..."

Reluctantly, he moved over to the next cord, and pulled it. There was a click and he heard something on the other side fall. He could faintly hear the sound of cheering. 'Maybe pulling this cord helped out Harry and Mary somehow?' Garry wondered.

Not wanting to overstep his boundaries, he refrained from pulling the last cord. Garry could just sense that something bad would happen if he did. There was a drawing of a white rose in the corner on the floor. Spotting it, Garry went over and sat down. He began to plan out his next move.


	10. Chapter 10 - Mannequin Heads and Picture

_**Chapter 10 – Mannequins Heads and Pictures**_

**AN: **

**Oni: Okay so this is the last official story chapter Lindsey6500 has written. From here on the story will be written by yours truly, and I shall try to update regularly. I do not own Harry Potter or Ib or this story up to and including this chapter. I do however own little bits of info that I have scattered here and there. And now that this posting binge in over, until next time, my pretties!**

* * *

Harry and Mary cheered, watching as the blinking painting fell from the wall and got itself wedged between the two sides of the crevice.

"Harry, look!" exclaimed Mary. She pointed at the painting. "Now we can cross!"

The painting wasn't blinking anymore. Its eyes were shut, as if it were sleeping. Although silly, Harry wanted to be courteous, so he walked over to the painting and asked it, "Is it okay to cross?" The painting opened its black eyes and looked over to Harry. The painting simply blinked once at him before closing its eyes once more. "Guess so!" Mary said happily.

They walked over the painting and there was a bouncing sound, like a trampoline. They walked over to the cardboard box. Something was moving around inside it.

"Harry... Let's not open that box..." Mary said worriedly.

On top of the strange pentagon thing they had seen earlier was a blue painted triangle. Bored, Mary kicked it and the thing slid across the floor.

"This is fun!" Mary exclaimed happily, kicking the box again. "Come on, Harry! Let's play!"

Harry chuckled before running up and kicking the box over to Mary. "Alright. Let's play football!"

"What's that?" Mary asked, confused.

"Well all you need to do is..." Harry started explaining.

After a few minutes of explaining the game, they both stood at their 'goals'. "Alright, try to kick it over

here!" Harry said, standing in front of the hole in the ground.

"Okay!" Mary exclaimed, kicking the strange pentagon shape over to Harry. Harry kicked it back.

The game went on for a few minutes before Mary was able to kick the shape into the 'goal', or more like hole. "I win!" Mary yelled out in victory. Harry panted. "... Yeah, you did! … Good job... Whew... I'm exhausted..." He gasped out. "You're really good. You should join a football-or soccer as you Americans put it- team."

"Really? Okay!" Mary responded. With nothing else to do in the room, they moved onward through the unlocked door before them.

The next area was winding like a snake. There was a skinny path and the walls had lots of light bulbs. As they continued down the path, Mary suddenly stopped. She looked at Harry and asked, "Hey, Harry... Can I ask you something?"

Harry turned to her and nodded. "Sure. Ask away."

She nodded slightly. "Okay... Is Garry... your dad?"

Harry was honestly shocked; he hadn't expected a question like this. Garry, his father? No, Garry wasn't.

Garry was only three years older than him and they looked nothing alike! "No... Garry isn't my dad..."

Harry said. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that his actual father was dead.

"Hmm... So your dad is somebody else... I see..." Harry swallowed, hard. He didn't want to think of his father. It always hurt him to remember that his parents had been murdered and that he would never have a father. "Is your mom nice, Harry?" Again with the parent questions! Harry _almost_ wanted to hit the girl. He didn't want to think of his parents, it made him depressed. "... Yes... She's nice..." He told her, after all, his mother did sacrifice her own life for him and he was told that she was really nice by multiple people, so he assumed that she was a kind woman. "Ah... That's good..." Mary said quietly.

"You want to see your parents again soon, right?" Mary asked. 'Please, just be quiet! I don't want to be asked anymore questions about my parents!' Harry thought angrily. 'I do want to see my parents but in order to do that, I'll have to be dead. So, no. I do _not_ want to see them _soon!_' "I want to get out soon, too..." Although angered, annoyed, and saddened, Harry couldn't agree more with that statement.

As Harry turned to continue walking, Mary stopped him again. 'I guess she has even _more _on her mind.' Harry thought, still annoyed by their last conversation. "Hey... Harry, uh..." she stuttered. "If only two of us could get out of here... then what?" Harry was once again shocked by the sudden question. 'What should I say?' Harry asked himself. "I..." In all honesty, although quite selfish, Harry kind of wanted to leave with Garry. The older teen was nice to him, had been with him from the start, and had helped him throughout the gallery. He liked the purple haired teen a lot, plus, he was annoyed with Mary at that moment... However, he really didn't want to be mean or rude to her... 'I want to leave with them both...'

"I'd... leave with... you, Mary." He told her. 'Garry's not here with me right now, so for the time being I'll go with Mary.'

Mary's eyes brightened, looking so full and alive. "Really? Oh, I'm so glad!" She exclaimed. "I want to leave with you too, Harry! … And once we get out... We'll play all sorts of stuff! And eat lots of candy, and go all these places..." She trailed off.

Suddenly, she leapt up and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, pulling him into a tight hug. She rested her head onto Harry's shoulder. Harry awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. "Teeheehee... I can't wait! … Let's make sure we leave together, okay? Promise!" She released him from the hug and held out her pinky finger. Harry, very confused, pulled up his pinky finger and wrapped it around Mary's. She eagerly responded by squeezing his finger. "I promise..." Harry murmured. After the promise was made, they pulled their fingers away.

"Yay!" She exclaimed, latching onto Harry's arm. "Let's keep going!" She proceeded to pull Harry down the winding room.

* * *

When they entered the next room, they smelt a funny smell lingering in the air. A strange red mist was floating around in a hall. They decided that it was within their best intentions to avoid it. Next to the mist was a door, which they entered. Inside the room were three mannequin heads and a painting titled "Lady Without Her Umbrella". The painting was just of a black silhouette looking out into the distance.

On one of the tables was a key that vaguely resembled a tree. They immediately picked it up. Right before they left, Harry stopped, stopping Mary as well.

"What is it?" Mary asked.

"Hold on, Mary... I feel like we need to do something..."

"W-What do you think we need to do?"

Harry walked around the small room and inspected everything. He felt as though there was something he needed to do with the mannequin heads before they left the room. He studied the second one.

Oddly enough, Harry could feel a strange vibe from the middle head.

"What's it looking at?" Mary wondered aloud.

"... I think we need to take it off the table..."

"Huh? Take it off? What if it breaks? And it's so heavy..." Mary complained.

"Come on, Mary. I think we should take it off." Harry insisted, confidence evident in his voice.

"O-Okay... If you're that sure, then I won't stop you..." replied Mary.

They both approached the mannequin head and began to push it off. The head fell to the ground and didn't break, surprisingly. However, the head cracked the ground and a strange red mist began to seep out from between those cracks. The head appeared to be crying tears of blood as well.

"Ahhh! Look, Harry! There're cracks in the floor! And there's some weird gas coming out..." Mary whined. Seeing that the room may now be dangerous, they decided to leave.

When they left the room, they saw that there was a painting titled "Fisherman". It appeared to be a cliff by an ocean. "...There's nobody there, though." Mary noted. There was a door next to the painting, but it was locked.

To the left of them was a drawing of a blue rose on the ground, a table with a vase, and a painting of lips titled "Tattletale". The duo walked by, scouting around the room.

There was a painting on the far left side of the room called "Heavenly Thread". The painting was just a string hanging in a black and white contrast. Gazing at the painting, Harry felt as though he had seen the painting before. 'Wasn't this in the _actual_ museum?' Harry asked himself.

Next to the painting was a door. They went up to it and Harry turned the knob. It was unlocked. Happy to have finally found another unlocked room, the two of them went inside. "What's this place...? There's no color!" Mary's words were true. The entire room was a pale gray.

To the left of the room was an easel with a rainbow painted on it, but there was no color to it. A palette and brush were suspended in midair. "It's like there's someone there..." Mary commented. Preventing them from exploring the other side of the room was a large gap in the floor.

Harry couldn't see too clearly, but there appeared to be a key lying on a white table on the other side. Without anything else to do, they left the depressingly gray room.

They proceeded to head down from the room and spotted another familiar painting. It was, "Selfless Guard". The door next to it was locked, but Mary stopped Harry before they left. "What's this... Can we put it a name?" She pondered. Investigating the door, Harry noticed that there was a painting on the door. It looked like stars shinning in the night sky. The painting looked familiar to Harry. Harry thought deeply, trying to recall the painting's tittle.

"Hmmm... What about 'Marvelous Night'?" Harry suggested. Before Mary could reply, there was a sound and the lock on the door clicked.

"Huh? I guess I was somehow right..." Harry said. The duo entered the now unlocked room.

It was a small room with a few bookshelves. On the left side bookcase was a book titled "A Boy's Last Days". Intrigued, Harry pulled out the book and began to read. "Once upon a time, there was a young boy. The boy went with his relatives to an art gallery. But all of a sudden, the boy realized that he was lost... He searched through the dim gallery, but found neither his relatives nor the exit... Scared, helpless, lonely, hungry, and thirsty, he fell and hurt himself, putting his body far past its limit..." Harry was shocked at what he had read. This was far too similar to his own life for it to be just a coincidence...

Nervously, Harry reached out with his hand and hesitantly turned the page. On the next page was the illustration of a collapsed boy with black messy hair and a scrawny form. Behind a pair of round glasses were a pair of emerald-green eyes filled with pain and sadness. It was Harry.

Hurriedly, Harry slammed the book shut and shoved it back onto the bookshelf.

"Woah! Harry, are you okay?" Mary asked worriedly.

"... Yeah... I'm fine, just... Fine." Harry muttered.

Mary nodded, a smile now across her lips. "That's good to hear. I hope we can find something in here..."

Calmed down, Harry could only hope they could find a more useful book. They searched the bookcases and skimmed over the titles. On the other side of the room, Harry found a book titled "Collected Works of Guertena". The drawings were in alphabetical order. The letters "L," "G," and "J" were highlighted in yellow. "Should we take a look?" Mary inquired. Harry only nodded before opening up to "L".

"'The Lady in Red' (6210) It was said he based this on a lover he had at the time, but he has denied this claim. In truth, Guertena based it around the ? women who attempted to court him for his inheritance."

Harry frowned, annoyed that he didn't understand one of the words. 'I guess many women only wanted to court him for his inheritance...' Harry thought to himself. 'I hope no one in Hogwarts will try to court me just for my fame and money...' Harry felt himself sicken at the reminder at his fame. He didn't enjoy being famous. No, not at all. He loathed the admiring looks he was sent by so many people; admiring him for something he didn't even do or remember. It should be his parents that everyone admired, not him!

"'The Geometrical Fish' (6235) Despite being grayscale, this curious piece makes clever use of shading and angles to give the impression of color. The ? depiction of even the ? evokes a wide variety of emotions in people." Once again, Harry didn't understand some of the words, but he understood the majority of it. He turned to page "J".

"'Juggling' (6223) A work based on a juggler he saw at the circus with his grandchild. As it is extremely rare for Guertena to use real people as models, this piece is highly valuable." Finished reading, Harry slid the book back onto the shelf and Mary and him stood up, ready to search around the room some more.

Next to the bookcase was a little hole; too big for a finger, but small enough for a key. The two of them went up to it and Harry slid in the key he had picked up. He turned the key. Nothing happened. "..."

Mary seemed to be a little upset. With nothing left to do there, they left the room.

Since they had explored as much as they could, the duo walked over to the blue rose drawing and sat down to think...


	11. Chapter 11 - Creepy Dolls and Balls of P

_**Chapter 11 – Creepy Dolls and Balls of Paint**_

**AN:**

**Oni: Wow! My first chapter on my own, I hope you like it!**

**Harry: To cover up some confusion, the flashback I had with Voldemort back with the snake painting came from the first year, not fourth year.**

**Oni: Hope that helped! *ahem* ABYSS!**

***Abyss of the Deep rises out from bottom of the sea***

**Abyss of the Deep: ONI DOES NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR IB. SHE ALSO DOES NOT OWN THIS STORY FOR THE FIRST TEN CHAPTERS, ONLY A FEW DETAIL FLOATING ABOUT IN THIS OCEAN OF A TAIL.**

**Oni: Thank you Abyss for that disclaimer riddled with fish puns :) . **

* * *

'How on Earth am I supposed to get that door open? It just doesn't make sense! Where's Harry and Ma-'

THUNK

Garry was snapped out of his reverie by an object that fell from the floor above him. His head snapped up, and he was on his feet in seconds.

Quickly spinning on his heel, Garry walked towards the strange, blue object.

It was a block around half his height, with a royal blue pyramid on top. Garry bent over to get a better look at it, noticing that the base was the exact size and shape as the triangular hole in the ground. Deducing quickly, he tried to push the block, maneuvering it to what he hoped was the key to the door.

A sudden chill ran down his spine as he pushed the block towards the hole, and the sound of whispering filled his mind. Garry felt dizzy started to stumble a bit.

_On your way back home from your family trip to the Art Gallery, you pass an orphanage who's iron gates were shut tight. However, a figure was huddled by the gate, who by size you could only guess was a child. Your father walks slowly to get a closer look while you tailed behind him, and both of you were surprised when a pair of obsidian colored eyes looked up at you. His long, scraggily mope of black hair and thin, skeletal frame made you shiver. The child on the doorstep could not have been any older than three years old, contrary to your own five years. He was bruised all over, and you couldn't just leave him there to die…_

"_I'm fine Pict… don't worry, it only hurts a little now." Father tries to give you a smile, but it ends up as a grimace. He's clutching his left arm, and writhing on the floor. You always knew that odd tattoo your father had was bad, it felt wrong. It made father hurt a lot. And now you can only watch helplessly, writhing in pain on the floor of your living room, worried that he just might die this time… _

_There was something oddly disturbing about the paintings in the Gallery you inherited on your 16__th__ birthday. Even as you walked through the decently crowded building, you couldn't shake the feeling that all of the art pieces were watching your every move…_

_She was right behind you. Crawling, growling screeching. Sapphire blue eyes locked one to your own, hungry for something you did not understand. You tried talking to her, but she had been faster, lunging at your rose. You felt a burning pain immediately after The Lady in Blue snatched the royal blue rose out of your hands, making you stumble back. With a shriek you are sure your 'brother' would have laughed at, you grabbed the key on the ground and ran out the door, forgetting the rose before slamming the door shut behind you. Running turned to stumbling turned to crawling until you realized your mistake. You turn back and fall to the ground in pain. 'Is this what the Cruciatus Curse feels like?' you think to yourself._

The purple haired teen gasped and looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of something peering at him over the wall, where the purple door was. A flash of black, blue, and red. Red that stared at him hungrily, before it had disappeared.

'Great, so this place has Dementor equivalents now? 'Garry thought to himself.

"Wonderful, just wonderful." He muttered to himself, and then went back to his original task before he was interrupted by, whatever it was.

With a final push, the slab slid in to its new domain, and Garry heard a click from behind him.

Turning around, he found that the previously shut and locked tight door was now open ajar. Shrugging, he walked through it.

* * *

The passageway he found himself in had a bend, but in front of him, a couple of feet away, was one of those disturbing dolls dressed in a small pink dress. Above it on the left was message scrawled out in purple paint.

"**Hello there, Garry…**

**I don't like being alone…**

**Take me with you…!**"

"…Oh no… nonononono I am NOT taking one of these things with me!" And with that, Garry spun on his heel and walked down the hall, intending to get a far as possible from the blue skinned, creepy, smiling humanoid plush toy.

Only to find another one, propped up against the wall.

Just to be sure nobody was playing tricks, Garry walked back to where the doll was.

Only to find that it, along with the purple paint, had disappeared.

'So it's moving with me huh? This is getting a little creepy for my liking, and I have seen too much as it is today…' He thought darkly to himself.

Walking up to the doll's new place, he read the message that it had written for him in the same blasted paint.

"**Hey, why aren't you talking to me?**"

'Should I be?' Garry mused in his head. A part of him, the Slytherin side as his father would say, wanted to talk to the doll to see if it had any information on how to leave the gallery. The teen squashed that thought right away. No way in heaven or hell or in this gallery is he ever going to talk to one of those things willingly.

"If I do, I must be mad and anyone finding me in such a state should slap me." He said out loud, just to make that statement final. 'Besides,' he mused, 'it's not like that could actually happen…'

Garry strode on, turning another bend to find… the doll again.

"**Why are you ignoring me?**

**Do you hate me?**"

'No I can't say that I do, but I must admit that with you following me, my opinion on you is dropping. And trust me, they weren't high to begin with.'

"**Hey, play with me!**

**I know lots of fun things we can do…**"

'No, I draw the line at playing.'

"Go away!" Garry shouts at it before sprinting forward, only to find the doll again when he turned the corner.

"**I've got lots of friends, too…**

**I'll introduce you!**"

"Please don't…" Holding his head in his hands, he sprints off once more. This doll was really creeping him out now!

"**Be here forever…**"

"NonononononoNONONONONO! Go away! Stop stalking me!" Garry shouted at the dolls, not realizing in his terror that his eyes were starting to shift from his calm blue to a vibrant pink.

The purple haired teen rounded the final bend and sighed in relief. Finally the door! His joy was short lived however, when he realized that the doll was blocking the door.

"…How long are you going to follow me?" He asked it, a hint of defeat in his voice. Then his exhaustion turned to anger when he remembered why he had started out in the first place.

He had to help Harry and Mary.

"Enough of this! I'm busy here, and I'm not going to be your buddy!" He growled at it.

"These stupid DOLLS!"

His anger getting the best of him, and without Harry to stop him, Garry lifted his leg behind him.

"Out of my way!" The teen kicked the small doll, sending it flying towards the wall, where it hit with a 'squelch' and splattered blood on itself as well as the wall itself.

"Hmph…"

Garry turned to the door, turning the knob but was only rewarded with that insufferable 'click'

"It's locked…"

He hears the sound of paint spattering on his left, and turns to see that a message in purple paint has been scrawled on the wall next to the door.

"Oh no…" he mumbled as he read what it said.

"** S**

** S**"

After reading the message, he heard a click that signified that the door was unlocked.

Garry sighed. He should have known that it was a horrible idea to kick one of these things, and now he had a REALLY bad feeling about going through the door.

'Oh well,' he thought, 'let's see what they throw at me…' and tentatively walked through.

* * *

Stepping out into the new room, Garry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Nothing jumped out at him, and the room was spacious enough that he could make a run from whatever it was that might chase him in the future.

However, as he walked forward to the end of the room, his fear rose again.

For there, sitting at the end of the wall, was a doll head.

"**It's all your fault my head was plucked off…**" The scribble in that insufferable violet paint read.

"Oh no…no no nonono…" The teen whispered, backing away. Taking a few deep breaths, he tries to calm himself down. 'Get yourself together!' Garry thought in his head, 'You have work to do! Remember your schooling, nothing is ever as it seems!' before trying the purple door next to the severed doll head. It opened with ease.

Inside the room he was met with seven golden pedestals of some sort, each carved exactly the same. The pillars were arranged symmetrically, with three on the left receding towards the center of the other end of the room, three on the right doing the same thing, and one standing in the middle of the room, right in front of him. They stood on square black symbols that he didn't recognize. Looking straight ahead, the boy with the tattered coat saw a notice at the end of the wall.

Garry carefully walked to the end of the room, hoping that the notice might yield something better than the messy scrawls from the dolls.

"Collect the seven balls of paint…

Then the room will be colored,

And your bridge will be made."

"Balls of paint…?" Garry asked himself aloud, "I wonder where those are…"

He glanced above the notice to see a giant wooden painter's pallet hanging from a nail on the wall. It had seven dabs of color, purple, pink, yellow, green, blue, red and white. 'These must be the colors of the balls of paint… I'll keep that in mind.' He thought. Seeing nothing else to do in the room, Garry walked out of the room.

Passing "Depths", which looked like a botched Fibonacci sequence, and the painting of the starry sky called 'Marvelous Night", the purple haired teen spotted a vase of water, and ran towards it. This vase seemed different from the other vases, as it was bright blue instead of a drab grey. Quickly, he placed his rose in the vase and sighed in relief when all the petals on his rose grew back. Taking his rose out, Garry realized that the water level was the same height as when he put his rose in. 'Is this one particular vase charmed to keep refilling?' he thought to himself.

Looking back, he realized that he had passed a purple door on his way to the vase. Above the door was a simple picture of a tree. Feeling a bit more courageous now that his rose was back to full health, he opened the door.

He walks in to find a library of some sort, split by a large wall in the middle, which had another notice on it.

"No checking out books."

'I don't think there's any place to _check out_ anyway.' He thought to himself. Turning to the right, he realized that the passageway was blocked by large bookcases. He tried pulling one of the bookcases to the middle, but the thing wouldn't budge.

"Hrm… I should be able to move it, but I can't." He sighed to himself. To be thorough, Garry checked the center bookcase for something to help him, choosing a book titled 'Theories on This World'

"Theories on this World

Via a trading of existences,

The imaginary can be made reality."

"I'm not sure what that means…" he said out loud.

Seeing that nothing else seemed to be of use, Garry decided to check the other side of the room.

Checking a bookcase on the left side, he found a slip of paper that said "Conquer the Unknown and Know No Fear". 'Finally something positive in this hellish gallery…' he thought to himself.

Moving on, he saw four bookcases at the back, split into two groups by a painting of an eye looking to the right. "Enlightenment" it read. 'Does this mean that somewhere here I will be enlightened of something?' Garry thought.

Deciding to check the bookshelves from left to right, Garry found another free book on the leftmost side.

"Terror

Being alone is fearful.

A group of two can half relief.

A group of three…"

The rest was torn off…

"…I hope Harry and Mary are okay…" Garry whispered to himself, "Well, as long as there are two of them, I guess…" Shaking his head, he continues on the task at hand.

Seeing nothing of importance in the other two bookcases, Garry checks the rightmost shelf. "The Essentials of Color" the title read. 'It describes the uses of color…' he mused, 'to bad I know most of this stuff… not very helpful…'

The teen felt a shiver run through him as soon as he closed the book.

"Hm?" Garry asked aloud.

Thunk.

A small green ball appeared on the boy's left side, and Garry bent down to carefully pick it up.

"What's this, now…" he asked no one in particular, "It's soft, but I feel I could break it…"

Then the answer struck him.

"Perhaps this is a ball of paint?"

Once the words fell from his lips, the green ball disappeared in a small swirl of green paint.

"Hm… it vanished." he said out loud. 'I have been talking to myself for a while now… I doubt this is healthy…' his mind added, 'This entire place is surreal and you are most likely going mad.'

Seeing no use to be in the room any longer, Garry left the room to search for more of these 'balls of paint.'

Turning to the next opening in the room, Garry turned the knob of the new purple door only to find it locked. Shrugging, he checked the painting next to the door. "Fishing Hook" it read, and true to its name there was a fishing hook that hung from the top of the inside of the frame and descended to the outside of the frame itself.

"…What's up with this?" he says aloud once again, "It's coming out of the painting… Could it be, well… a hook?" He suddenly had the huge urge to touch the hook, but stooped himself once he realized his hand was hovering only and inch away from the point of the hook.

'Garry snap out of it, remember the story of Sleeping Beauty, prick the finger and you're done for…' his mind chided.

"No, I won't touch it…" he said aloud, as if to defend himself from his own mind. 'Wow, I really am going mad…' he thought.

Going around again, Garry stopped when he saw two more paintings. There was the painting "Worry" which he swore the background used to be red and the face used to look from the other side that winked at him when he passed it. Next to it was "Juggling", depicting a juggler in a red suit who was juggling blue and yellow balls in the air. Listening closely, Garry heard a voice coming from the painting.

"What year was I born?" it asked the purple haired teen.

'Oh good I know this one, glad to know my obsession with art is actually paying off for once in this place…' Garry thought to himself triumphantly.

"6223." The teen said with confidence.

"C-O-R-R-E-C-T!" the juggler spelled out, happy someone got the answer right for once.

Another small 'thunk' came from the floor, this time from the boy's right. Turning, Garry saw a deep blue ball of paint on the floor. As soon as he picked it up, the small object vanished with a small swirl of blue. 'Well, that's two done at least…' he thought to himself.

Turning around, Garry opened the door opposite to "Worry" to find himself in a room full of some sort of red gas that was being pumped out from some holes in the ground.

"Oof… What's with this room…?!" he said before gasping as the mist entered his lungs. "Don't want to stay here long…" he panted out.

He hacked and coughed at the stench, and while he recognized the mist as some sort of poisonous gas, something told him that he had to get to the other corner of the room. However, something caught his eye.

A red umbrella was leaning against the wall, a few steps to his left, and Garry felt an unnatural pull toward it. Making up his mind, the teen lurched forward, absentmindedly watching his rose rapidly lose petals as he made his way over to the umbrella. Scratches began appearing on his body, bleeding profusely, the pain becoming more unbearable the more steps he took. Picking the object up, he sprinted out the door, making his way over to the bright blue vase, and sighed in relief as the rose of three petals quickly turned into a rose in full bloom, and the wounds disappearing from his body as quickly as they had come.

Now with a much clearer head, Garry stared at the red umbrella. 'What am I supposed to do with this?' he thought to himself, examining the innocent-looking thing. With the intention of continuing his exploration, Garry attempted to get past "Worry" when on the way he felt the pull towards "Fishing Hook" become even stronger. An idea struck him.

"I wonder, if I put this umbrella on it…" he murmured.

Carefully, the boy in the tattered coat hooked the umbrella onto the fishing hook. As soon as the umbrella was secured, the line above whirred, and the hook retracted upwards, umbrella in tow.

"Huh… It went into the painting…" Garry gasped aloud, "There sure are a lot of inexplicable things going on…" 'and I'm not even an ordinary either…' he finished in his mind, just in case.

Deciding to continue his search, Garry rounded the bend past "Worry" and found what he hoped was the final purple door in the room. He tried opening it, but the door was locked tight. The doorknob was strangely cold…

Getting a bad vibe from the door and whatever was behind it, the purple haired teen spun around the see a yellow ball of paint laying a few ways away. He picked it up, and it vanished in a swirl of bright, yellow paint. Going back to the vase, Garry saw something he hoped wouldn't happen again.

The decapitated doll head had moved again, this time next to the vase. Above it was yet another one of those disturbing notes scribbled in purple paint.

"No…" he whispered aloud, reading the messy handwriting.

"**Whatcha doing?**

**Whatcha doing? I wanna know!**"

Garry let out a frustrated groan.

"Not again…"

Suddenly exhausted from the new development, Garry walked to the rose drawing placed on the ground and sat down.

"I hope Harry and Mary are okay…"

* * *

**AN: Yay first chapter finished! A little backstory on our favorite purple haired friend, hope you like it! Remember, reviews make the world go round, so just send one in so I know what you think of it! Til next time, my pretties!**

**-Oni**


	12. Chapter 12 - Mary had a little Secret

_**Chapter 12 – Mary had a little… Secret**_

**AN:**

**Oni: Oh yay another chapter!**

**Asura: Took you long enough, I mean you even put my story on hiatus… *sobs***

**Dain: Now now brother she had her reasons…**

**Garry: Hey! You two aren't in this story! Shoo! Along with your terrible choice of clothing!**

**Harry: *ahem* Oni does not own me, or Garry, or Mary, or you know even this story up to chapter ten. She does own the bits and pieces she put in as well as everything afterwards. She also owns the OC in this story, but he's not very prominent, you'll find out about him later I guess. He won't be seen for a while.**

**Mary: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand on to the story! Yay!**

* * *

Hearing a whirring noise from his left, Harry got up from his sitting point on the rose to see that the fisherman painting now had an addition.

"Hey Mary, I think the fisherman's painting changed…" Mary immediately got up and ran to the painting, dragging Harry along with her.

"…Hey, look, Harry… He caught something!" Mary exclaimed, and sure enough, on the fisherman's hook was a bright red umbrella.

The fisherman swung his line over, and dropped the umbrella at the small boy's feet. Harry picked up the object, examining it curiously.

"I wonder what we need to do with it…" The blond girl wondered aloud.

"Wait, wasn't there a painting called 'Lady without her Umbrella'? Maybe she needs it…" The emerald-eyed boy offered, before his arm was taken and swung around in the direction of said painting.

"That's a great idea Harry! Let's goooo!" Harry laughed at her antics, and the two of them made their way over to the aforementioned lady.

Looking at the painting, both children noted that the lady looked sad.

"Harry! Umbrella…!" Mary pushed, and Harry tentatively held out the umbrella to the silhouette. The lady grabbed the umbrella and hefted it over her head.

All of a sudden rain poured into the room.

"Huh? Huh?!" Mary exclaimed, "It started raining in the room! …That's so weird!"

Harry looked back at the painting to see that it was raining inside the frame as well, the title of the painting had changed to "Lady With Her Umbrella".

"Come on, let's go Mary, I don't want to get soaked…" And with that the two children ran out of the room.

Once they had exited the room, the raven haired boy checked his clothes only to find that they were perfectly dry.

'Huh…' he thought, 'This makes things easier…'

He looked around.

"Nothing seems to have changed…" the girl in the green dress mused, "Let's sit back down, Harry!"

Walking back to the blue rose painting, Harry and Mary sat down again, waiting for any new development.

* * *

Garry's head perked up at the faint sound of water dropping into a container. From where he stood, he deducted that the sound was coming from the other side of the wall. 'Guess I better go back in that red mist room again…' he thought.

Entering the room again, the sixteen year old watched as drops of water fell from the ceiling into the grey vase in front of him. 'Perhaps this is how I'll be able to get to the other end' he mused.

Steadying himself for one of the dumbest –Gryffindor as his father would say – things he has done so far in this gallery, Garry sprinted towards the vase, feeling the now all too familiar sensation of wounds gaping from the work of invisible knives.

As soon as he got to the vase, he placed his withering rose into the now water filled container, sighing in relief before enduring the sensation again as he ran to the end of the room, where a cord hung from the ceiling. He quickly grasped the handle of the cord and pulled down.

Instantly the holes in the ground stopped pumping in the red mist, and the red tinge in the room slowly dissipated.

"Ah…" Garry mused aloud, "That strange gas is gone."

Looking down at his rose to see only two petals left, the teen dropped his rose carefully into the vase, sighing again in relief that he got out of this stunt alive. Turning the head back out the door, Garry spotted a small purple ball on the way to the exit. 'I must have missed it because of all that mist… no pun intended.' He joked to himself before picking up the ball of paint. It, like all the others, vanished in a swirl of purple. 'I wonder where these go… maybe to the pedestals in the first room?' he thought, and decided to head towards the room. On the way however, he was stopped by a rumbling coming from the tree room.

"….?"

Glancing toward the tree room, he observed that the tree now had five red fruits on it. Wondering if the change had any impact on the room inside, he opened the door.

'The bookcases have moved…' he realized, and walked into the new path opened to him. First he picked up the pink ball of paint lying on the ground, which disappeared in a swirl of pink, and then browsed the first two bookcases on the left. Finding nothing, Garry checked the painting of a single ear that was apparently titled "Strained Ear". 'I wonder what it's trying to hear…' the purple headed boy mused before browsing the other two bookcases. Checking the rightmost side first, the teen came up empty, but the last bookcase held something fruitful.

"Collected Works of Guertena" contained painting by Guertena in alphabetical order.

"Wonder if there's anything useful…" Garry mumbled, flipping to the 'S' page.

""Serpent's Spirit" (6248)

Beginning with this piece, Guertena began his focus on abstract art.

But at the time, cubism was more popular, leaving Guertena's various abstract works largely ignored."

'Well that's sort of sad...' he thought as he flipped to the 'H' page.

""The Hanged Man" (6219)

Guertena painted this as a page filler while working for a magazine.

Once this illustration became renowned, it was sold for a limited time as an actual tarot card using the picture.

Presently, it is nearly impossible to find the tarot card."

'Hah!' Garry thought victoriously, 'I already have the tarot card in the Guertena bank vault, I should check those books to see why the gallery is acting like this, maybe they could tell me how to avoid situations like these in the future…'

Finally, the teen in the tattered cloak flipped to the 'M' page.

""Mary" (?)

The last work of Guertena's life.

While the girl appears almost lifelike, naturally, she is not based on a real person."

"….!" Was all Garry could say as he stared at the page in shock.

With trembling hands, he flipped over to the next page.

There she was, the small girl they had come to know. Hands clasped in front of her, head tilted to the side with a small smile on her face, Mary was surrounded by a border of a wooden frame with three roses at her feet.

"W-Why…?" the teen stuttered out, "It can't be… that's…Mary…..?!"

Garry did not notice the "Strained Ear bouncing up and down as he gasped to himself in shock and horror.

"She doesn't exist…? What does that mean…?!"

His face hardened when he realized where the girl was.

"And she's with Harry right now… no way…"

Suddenly, a voice came from the whispering ear.

"**I HEARD MARY'S SECRET~**"

'This is not good… not good at all…' he thought to himself, dropping the book and backing out of the room, still in shock.

When he got out of the room, Garry noticed something was missing. The decapitated doll head had moved again. Running to the other side of the large room, he found the head next to the room with the bad vibe.

"**I picked up something good…**

**And I'm not giving it to you!**

**I'm making it my treasure!**" read the scrawl in purple paint above it.

'Which is an open invitation too…?' he thought questioningly, checking the doll's head to find a bump of some sort on its cheek.

"…..Something's jutting out from its head…" The purple haired teen kneeled down to get a closer look.

"…What should I do?" he asked aloud. Feeling another pulling sensation, he sighed and gave into the feeling once again, seeing as it had only helped his thus far.

"I suppose I'll look closer… Though I… don't want to touch it." Garry said aloud.

Tentatively checking the doll's head, he realized he had to rip to head open to get whatever was inside it. 'I guess I have no choice that to touch it then…' he thought darkly as he ripped the head open. A red ball of paint fell from its bisected remains. Garry picked it up, watching as the swirls of red took it away.

Once it vanished, the doll's head came to life, squeaked something unintelligable at the teen, then floated into the locked room, shutting the door behind it.

'O…kay… was not expecting that, but then again, what is there to not expect?' the teen mused before checking the previosly locked door, wondering if was now unlocked.

"The door's… unlocked…." He fearfully said aloud, but made no move to go in. The bad vibes had magnified, and unless he has reason to, he was NOT going in there.

Spinning on his heel, Garry decided to g through with his original plan to check the pedestal room for any changes instead.

Inside the room he was greeted by the sight of six balls floating just above their own pedestals, which would have been pretty if not for the fact that the teen had not just been subjected to the sight of a floating doll head just moments before.

He also sadly noticed he was lacking the final ball, the white one, as he gazed at the empty pedestal at the center of the room. 'Why do I think I know where I need to obtain the last one…?' he thought as his mind drifted back to the door he just ran away from.

"I am not ready for this…" he muttered to himself as he walked and sat down on the red rose, steeling himself for what needed to be done.

* * *

Getting up from his position, Harry stretched his arms above his head. 'Merlin,' he thought, 'I'm tired of waiting, something should have happened already!' It was after he lowered his arms that the raven haired boy realized Mary was already standing up, listening to the mouth of "Tattletale" whisper something he could not hear. Whatever it was, it made Mary's face turn hard and stony as she continued to listen to the painting whisper.

"Mary?" he emerald eyed boy asked.

Without looking at him, Mary replied.

"…..Mary…..I'm Mary….." Harry looked at her, stunned into silence as she seemingly talked to herself.

"Oho, ohohoho, ohohohohho… Ahahaha, ahahahahahahaha…" She laughed, smiling, with her eyes closed.

"Mary? What's wrong?" Harry asked her, voice shaking, but Mary didn't hear him.

"I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary…" She repeated to herself.

"Mary, you're scaring me…" Harry whispered, "Stop, please?" he begged.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, smiling but her face had darkened, and now she looked sinister.

"Ohohohoho hohohoho…" the blond girl chuckled under her breath. Then she turned around and ran towards the entrance of the room.

"Wait, Mary!" Harry called after her. 'I should really look for her, but she's starting to scare me…' he thought to himself.

'But if I didn't look for her, than what kind of friend am I? No, I'm a Gryffindor, and we don't leave our friends behind! I HAVE to be brave!' With that thought, Harry rushed to where the younger girl had run off to.

He entered the hallway again, hearing the sound of porcelain being broken and the squelch of blood resounding from the walls rhythmically.

"Mary? What's…" Harry's question died in his throat as he saw Mary kneeling don as she stabbed a bleeding mannequin head with her palette knife, blood pouring from the poor head's new wound.

"In my way… in my way… in my way… in my WAY…" said angrily to herself as she continuously swung the palette knife into the roadblock's head. Not wanting to stand the sight of this further, Harry backed out of the corridor.

When he exited the hallway, Harry heard steps behind him.

"Harry…" It was Mary.

"Don't leave me…" she said to him sadly. Harry didn't know what to do, so instead he tried to placate her.

"Don't worry, I won't." She seemed to smile at the comment.

"Thank you Harry!" she chirped, skipping around him.

Shrugging the bad feeling he had about Mary, the raven haired boy decided to do some rounds to see if anything else has changed. Mary tagged along behind him walking slower than before, making the Boy Who Lived slow his pace to accommodate his friend. All the while the blond girl talked and sung.

"Fa la laaah! La la loooh!" she sang behind him as he checked the fisherman, "Ahahaha! It's a song! Original by me, Mary!" at the boy's odd looks at WHY she was singing, the younger child explained, "You should sing when you're sad! You'll be having fun again before you know it!" Harry smiled at that. 'Maybe I should give that a try someday, but not now.' he thought. Walking towards "Tattletale", he heard Mary chuckle behind him.

"Ahah… heehee…."

"What's so funny, Mary?" the emerald eyed boy asked her.

"We passed by a painting of a clown earlier… so the thing rolling down the stairs was the clown's spit! Ahahaha…" 'I don't get how she could be so happy in a place like this…' Harry sighed to himself.

"Let's play dolls… I'll be the mom doll, and Harry can be the dad doll…" She said behind him, but Harry got the distinct felling she wasn't talking to him.

Harry checks the colorless room, which has not changed since the last time.

"I wonder what Garry's doing now?" The raven haired boy turned suddenly at the blue eyed girl's voice, "Crying all alone maybe? I hope we find him soon…" Mary tilted her head in thought.

Garry. Harry's head fell in shame, he almost forgot about Garry! The older child's resolve hardened, he won't let that happen again. 'We have to get out of this alive,' he thought, 'all of us. Mary, Garry, and I... I hope he's safe…'

"…."

"I hope Garry is safe." Harry mused out loud.

"…Yes….. That would be… nice." Mary said, face still stuck with that odd, almost calculating smile. "But if he's not, we'll just have to leave him behind, right?" Harry looked at the girl that was supposed to be his friend in horror.

"No, never! We can't leave him here! He's… he's our friend! Don't say that Mary!" The boy wanted to scream at her for even thinking about don't such a thing, but if the maimed mannequin head had anything to show, it was that Mary was not in a very good mental state at the moment.

"Just saying…" was all the girl had in reply, smile still there, plastered on her face.

"Mary?"

"…."

"What were you doing?"

"Huh?"

At the girl's perplexed face Harry elaborated. "Back there… in the corridor… with the manniquin head…." Recognition seemed to dawn on her as she looked at the boy in surprise.

"Oh, that was… I'm sorry, I'm not too sure either… I was just… All these feelings suddenly…How do you say it?" She looked sad and worried, "Came… gushing out? Um… uh….." The thirteen year old stared at her with worry.

"Don't worry about it! I'll be fine…"

"Okay… if you say so…"

Checking the small library that also had no changes, Harry, who was putting back a book from the shelf, decided to go back to the umbrella room. However, when he turned around he found Mary staring right at him. Her blue eyes now were oddly sinister.

"Hey, Harry, have you ever done loves me, loves me not?"

"That's the game where… where you pick off the petals to guess if someone loves you… right?" Harry guessed, seeing some of the girls at Hogwarts picking flowers saying 'Loves me, loves me not', which now makes him shiver, seeing as everything in thing gallery seems to like the game as well. Mary nodded happily.

"So what's the big deal then?" The boy asked her.

"Well you see…" the younger girl strated, "There's actually a way to always end with "loves me"!" 'I don't think that's the point of the game…' Harry thought sarcastically. The girl in the green dress stared at him with a hard look.

"…Wanna hear it?" he looked at her confused,having a bad feeling where the conversation is going.

"Yeah… tell me more…" Harry said carefully.

"Okay! I'll tell you! Um, when you run out of petals…" 'As one does…' he thought to himself. "You can still count the stem! And that's how you always get "loves me"!" Mary smiled brightly at this, but Harry just felt queasy at the thought for some reason. He quickly smothered the feeling, and pressed on, walking out of the door, with the smaller girl right behind him.

"Harry, do you like your dad?" 'Again with the parent questions?' Harry thought furiously.

"I love him…" the boy with the lightning scar ground out, trying not to lose his temper at such a sore spot.

"Yeah… I love my dad, too." 'At least you're dad is still alive…' he thought darkly. "But I guess I can't meet him…" 'What?', Harry thought, 'Is he dead as well?'

"I've kept looking, but I can't find him." 'Maybe we really are on the same boat then, now I feel bad…'

"Maybe if I can get outside, then…" Harry turned aroung to face the girl.

"I want to get out now… I'm tired of being here…" With those words from the blond girl Harry put both his hands on her shoulders.

"Mary… we WILL get out of here. ALL of us, Garry, me, and you, okay?" Mary smiled at him before lunging forward and hugging him tightly.

"Okay! Thank you Harry!" She chirped brightly, her face bright before fading into a questioning stare.

"Harry, do you know about snow?" 'Snow…' Harry thought back to when he was in Hogwarts, back to the thick blankets of snow that would cover the castle. Back to where he was happy and free, and not trapped within the confines of his bedroom back on Privit Drive or stuck in this gallery.

"Yeah… yeah I do…" Mary smiled at him.

"Wow, that's nice! It's really cold, right?"

"Yeah…. Really cold…" Harry was off in his own mind, as he pictured last Christmas at Hogwarts. 'It seemed so long ago…' he thought glumly.

"I read in a book that you can eat it with syrup! I wonder how it tastes…"'Who would eat snow whith syrup? Actually, it seems nice, I might try that when we get out, just to humor her…' Harry thought to himself. Just before he could go back to what he was doing, Mary's hand crept onto his shoulder.

"Harry… Do you have friends? Like, how many?" 'Friends…' Harry thought to himself, 'Well, I guess the first thing thatt comes t mind is Ron and Hermione, but I also think that Nevelle and Ginny are also good friends… not to mention Hagrid…. And now Garry…' He counted in his head.

"About… six I guess?" Mary's eyes lit up.

"Who are they?" She asked excitedly.

"Well," Harry started, "There's my best friends Ron and Hermione… and then there's Nevelle and Ginny, and Hagrid, who's REALLY tall!" the emerald eyed boy emphasized to the girl, waving his arms as high as he could, making the smaller girl giggle.

"You play with them, right? And sometimes you argue?!"

"Yeah…" Harry replied as he thought of the amount of times Ron and Hermione had bickered.

"And maybe, after you argue, you can come back as better friends that before…!" 'Or you can defeat a troll together, that works too apparently' Harry thought, 'also being stuck in this scary gallery let me make friends with Mary and Garry…'

They walk a little while longer before the raven haired thirteen year old felt a shiver go down his spine. Spinning around, he sees the girl in the green dress still following behind him, her head facing the ground. Harry holds his breath and carefully asks her the question that's been bugging him for a while.

"Huh? Why am I staying behind you?" Harry nodded. "Well, why not…? There's no real reason…"

"…" was all Harry had in reply.

"…."

They stare at each other in silence before Harry turns around back to the raining room. He immediately notices something different about the area, but he couldn't put his finger on it…

"Hey, Harry… the red gas is gone…!" Mary exclaimed. 'Ah, so that's what it was' Harry thought. Seeing as there was nothing else to search, Harry walked through the newly availible area to find a door, which after a quick check was found to be unlocked.

Harry was met with a small room, with a single large painting to his right, and a passageway blocked by a mannequin on his left. Turning back, Harry realized that Mary was no longer behind him. Panicikng, he races back out, only to find that the small blond haired girl was now walking slowly around the rooms. She acted like she was in a trance, going around the rooms and staring at the paintings with a hard look on her face.

"…Mary…?" Harry tentatively asked, "Are you okay?"

No reply. The girl merely kept walking, not even acknowledging his presence. Sighing to himself, Harry once again sat on the blue rose painting on the floor, thinking 'What in Merlin's beard have I gotten myself into?'

* * *

**AN:**

**Oni: So that concludes yet another chapter! Tell me how it's going in the reviews! **

**See you later my pretties!**


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